Brush Beet feature: Elise Gerken

Elise Gerken was born southeast of Limon, Colorado in a city called Hugo. Her dad liked change and new adventures, so she and her two younger siblings moved around a lot while growing up, splitting their childhood between Colorado, Nebraska and Texas. Gerken first attended Wray High School before finishing her schooling at Fort Morgan High School.

Gerken attended Morgan Community College for one year before transferring to the University of Denver, where, inspired by her passion and involvement in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) in high school, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration.

Towards the end of college, she ended up marrying fellow FMHS graduate Derek Gerken. While they knew of each other in high school, they didn’t become close until they reconnected as college students. After a few years, they got married and ended up moving their growing family back to Fort Morgan around 1996 to be closer to relatives.

As a high school and college student, Elise worked at the Morgan County CSU Extension office with the 4-H program and continued helping with after-school programs and the Morgan County Fair even after her kids were born. She actually still volunteers her time through the Extension office when she is able.

Elise eventually decided that she wanted to be home with her four sons more often in the summers, so she began substitute teaching before moving on to a more consistent career working on an economic development project at NECALG, the Northeast Colorado Association of Local Governments, for a year and a half. Once her grant ended at NECALG, Elisa began working for the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) helping disabled students find jobs.

In July 2015, she moved on to a job at her current company — Banner Health — working specifically for the East Morgan County Hospital (EMCH) Foundation. She first began working as the Foundation Specialist and now job-shares the Event Coordinator role with Wendy Danielson.

“I’ve been here a long time now, and I don’t plan on going anywhere. We kind of have the best job ever because we get to have an event, and we get to give people money because we have scholarships that we award. And we get to support the hospital, so (the staff knows) we’re going to give back,” said Elise. “The best thing about this job is we have so many opportunities to do different things. We do an event every year, but that’s always a little different. Every time we’re supporting something at the hospital, it’s a one-time kind of thing, so the variety is really cool.”

Not only does Elise help coordinate new events, but she also works with the volunteer program, helps with the financial part of the Foundation through accounting and fundraising and helps put on various hospital events, like the quarterly EMCH Community Relations Luncheons. She thinks of the Foundation as a more visible piece of the hospital that fellow community members will see and recognize.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Elise knew the Foundation probably would not be able to hold its annual fundraising event in fall 2020. While the staff wasn’t able to carry on as usual, members did their best to still do whatever possible to help. They were able to remodel a patio, along with taking on some other smaller projects at the hospital.

However, the 10th annual Fall Affair was able to make a successful return in October 2021 with its “Harvest Moon” theme. Elise said shortly after those large events end, they began planning the next year’s event.

Elise and Danielson’s job is to make sure all the moving parts — from paperwork to colors and décor — will eventually be pulled together.

“There’s a lot, but it just kind of comes naturally now. It takes months, though, to put it all together,” said Elise. “But there’s a lot more to the Foundation than just one event.”

In addition to helping EMCH specifically, the Foundation provides scholarships with 20% of the proceeds earned from the Fall Affair. There are opportunities twice a year for employees who want to further their education to earn a scholarship, as well as high school seniors who want to pursue a career in medicine.

“Supporting the hospital allows (the Foundation) to give back to the community. The community supports the hospital. The hospital supports the community, and it is a great partnership. The fact that we can provide the healthcare we do here is pretty amazing… other areas our size don’t have the healthcare resources that we do,” said Elise.

It’s obvious that Elise loves her job and doesn’t anticipate leaving anytime soon. She does like to stay busy, though. When she is not attending sporting events to cheer on her youngest son, a junior at FMHS, Elise enjoys camping, gardening, attending plays and concerts, taking on home renovation projects and helping her husband tend to his family’s cattle operation, especially by focusing on the business and bookkeeping side of things.

Though Elise resides in Fort Morgan, she considers both Fort Morgan and Brush to be home, as she has found community and close friends in both.

“I have no desire to be anywhere but here. This job has been the best job I’ve ever had. When I come to work, I don’t think about it as, ‘I’m going to Brush.’ It’s all just my home. A lot of people live in one community and work in the other,” said Elise, explaining that she didn’t even think twice about taking a job in Brush. “Some of my favorite people in this world are from Brush. I really do feel like part of the Brush community because I work here. It really is a warm, welcoming community.”

In the future, Elise plans to continue providing necessary healthcare to the community and help EMCH accomplish more of their long-term goals. At the end of the day, Gerken hopes to continue being a person who stays involved and helps improve her community.