Colorado- raised expertise helps add depth to Middle Park Health and VSON’s roster

Home-grown talent with an enthusiasm and appreciation for the Colorado mountain lifestyle is always a welcome asset at any local business, and for Vail-Summit Orthopaedics & Neurosurgery and its partners at Middle Park Health in Grand County, Dr. Patrick “P.J.” Bevan provides the perfect mix of both.

Dr. Bevan, a talented orthopaedic surgeon, joins the team at MPH and VSON as part of a partnership between the healthcare organizations – developed in 2021 to provide world-class orthopedic services in a community-based setting. He and fellow Colorado native Dr. Rick Pfeiffer are on hand to provide general orthopaedics and orthopaedic trauma services, sports medicine and complex shoulder surgery to Grand County residents and visitors.  

The Granby-based Dr. Bevan grew up in Eagle-Vail, the son of Dr. William Bevan, a renowned emergency physician who worked in Eagle County for more than 45 years. “P.J.” Bevan says he is happy to bring his advanced training to an outdoors-oriented community.

“This has all been 20 years in the works,” he explains. “I ended up as a patient with Dr. Paul Abbott, one of the founders of VSON, while I was a student… Now I’m working alongside other VSON physicians and mentors like Dr. Pfeiffer and Dr. Erik Dorf.”

After his childhood surgery, Dr. Bevan worked as a cast tech at VSON’s offices in Eagle and Summit Counties, playing hockey overseas and graduating from Edwards’ Vail Christian High School. He studied at Minnesota’s Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Colorado before being accepted into medical school at Oregon’s Western University of Health Sciences, where he graduated as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine in 2016. 

His orthopaedic residency was in Ohio at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s South Pointe Hospital. He spent the last year on a fellowship at the Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California, where he served as the LA Chargers’ associate team physician. 

“My number one goal is to get my patients back to doing the activities they love so they can get back to enjoy everything the Colorado High Country –specifically Grand County – has to offer,” he says. 

Oftentimes this is done through a comprehensive, conservative approach utilizing cutting-edge, non-operative techniques to restore function. When needed, Dr. Bevan is able to employ his surgical expertise and keen attention to detail to care for joint restoration, cartilage preservation, ski and mountain-related trauma and sports injuries, with a specialty in complex shoulder reconstruction. 

“Having been a patient multiple times, I’m committed to ensuring that my patients share in the decision-making process, one that is unique to each patient,” he adds.

Beyond his commitment to local patients, Dr. Bevan has also developed a desire to help and serve others that has an international reach. He and his wife founded a non-profit organization called “Ken-Ya Believe” which aims to provide international service opportunities to medical professionals while supporting and mentoring Kenyan orthopaedic surgeons in training at Tenwek Hospital, located in western Kenya.  

He also currently serves as an Orthopaedic Council Member for the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), dedicated to help bring equitable and quality surgical care to the developing world. In the meantime, Dr. Bevan continues to play hockey and hopes to take on more coaching responsibilities in addition to skiing, biking, hiking, fishing and golfing in Grand County.   

Tiffany Freitag, Director of Business Development for Middle Park Health, says she is honored to have a surgeon of Dr. Bevan’s talent join the MPH team, which helps continue a tradition of local care in both Grand and southern Jackson Counties that stretches more than 90 years.

“Our relationship with VSON began in the summer of 2021, and we now have two full-time orthopaedic surgeons who live and work here,” she says. “The partnership between our two organizations ensures patients in Grand County have access to top-quality, expert orthopaedic care without the additional strain of a long drive to Denver.”    

MPH offers full-service hospitals in both Kremmling and Granby, with clinics in Walden, Kremmling, Granby, Grand Lake and Winter Park, plus rehabilitation facilities in Fraser. Dr. Bevan’s hiring allows MPH to reinforce the VSON standard of care in Grand County, even as demand increases.

“Both MPH and VSON have the philosophy that patients are more than numbers,” Freitag said. “We want to know them by name, understand their concerns, and support them through every phase of the healthcare journey.”