Editor’s Note: Colorado’s healthcare system is entering a period of accelerating instability — a “tsunami,” as multiple leaders describe it — driven by collapsing hospital finances, shrinking Medicaid reimbursements, disappearing services and a political fight over who is responsible for this unraveling. Healthcare Freefall is a multipart series examining how Colorado arrived at this moment, what H.R. 1 will do next and why communities across the state are bracing for deeper shocks.

Dr. Jeff Bacon’s path to rural medicine began in small Kansas and Nebraska towns.

In Sterling, Colorado, he’s become a central figure for patients who often face long drives, limited screening access and late diagnoses — realities that define breast cancer care outside the state’s urban centers.

Bacon grew up watching his father take care of people in rural communities. He wanted to follow in those footsteps, albeit just in a different profession. 

Bacon, who has lived in Sterling for the past 26 years, is the divisional chief medical officer at Banner Health.

“I wanted to take care of people, especially in rural spaces,” Bacon said. “I’ve lived in rural areas all my life, and truly these are my people. I really enjoy living in rural spaces and taking care of people. I can’t go into a Walmart without knowing somebody, and they know me. I know their history, and they know my history.”

Bacon began his career as a clinical family practice provider. He has spent the last 11 years in his current role. 

Over the course of his career, he has formed close relationships with many of his patients and former colleagues — among them Dorothy Larson. 

Larson worked as a nurse for Bacon for a number of years, but her relationship with the doctor changed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. 

“I was still working for Banner at the time,” Larson said. “It was kind of an unusual thing because when you’re a nurse, you’re used to taking care of other people. Then all of a sudden, I was told I had cancer. But Banner and Dr. Bacon were very good at taking care of me. I never asked why me. I asked why not me?”

Not without challenges    

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, aside from skin cancers — accounting for roughly 30% — of all new cases each year.

Breast cancer can often be treated, but for those diagnosed in rural areas, treatment often becomes more taxing. 

Larson had to commute four hours to and from Greeley every day for seven to eight weeks so that she could get radiation.

“It was difficult,” Larson said. “I had great support from my family and medical team, but it was tough making that drive so many times for a 15-minute radiation appointment. You did it because that’s what you had to do.”

When Larson thought those drives and radiation treatments had finally come to a close, she was diagnosed with second breast cancer on the other side in 2007. 

The diagnosis led to more commutes to and from Greeley for radiation. Fortunately, Larson has been cancer-free since she finished her second round of radiation. She has also been off cancer-related medication since 2013. 

Larson knows she was fortunate in many ways. She said it took deep emotional strength, inner resilience and a strong network of support to get through it.

Support can often seem a long way away for Colorado rural residents dealing with breast cancer or other health issues. 

Studies by the National Institutes of Health show that rural Coloradans face lower breast cancer screening rates and a higher likelihood of late-stage diagnoses compared to urban residents. Key contributing factors include geographic distance to imaging facilities. 

Patients like Larson might have to travel over 200 miles or some may encounter provider shortages and socioeconomic disparities. 

Signs of improvement

Bacon said Banner Medical Group is trying to expand access to mammograms for patients in a timely manner. 

The American College of Radiology and the American Cancer Society recommend that women at average risk begin annual mammograms at age 40. 

“We are focused on preventative care screenings to prevent cancer or at least pick it up early,” Bacon said. The goal is to have at least 75% of Banner’s patients screened.

“It is improving,” Bacon said. “I know that we are close to meeting our goals in several places, but in some places that are more rural or frontier, it is less. I think it’s harder to be able to get that access because not every place has mammograms, and not every place has the ability to have a radiologist look at a diagnostic ultrasound.”

“There are more obstacles in rural spaces,” he added.

Bacon said patients travel to Sterling from both Nebraska and Kansas because of the David Walsh Cancer Center, which opened in 2010 and is located on the Sterling Regional MedCenter campus. 

Bacon said the David Walsh Cancer Center was a game-changer for the area. It provided the region with access to medical oncologists and radiation oncologists and the ability for the center to perform chemotherapy when needed.

“When you live on thin margins that rural hospitals often live on, those things are sometimes hard to attain, but it’s the right thing for the community,” Bacon said. “The reason we have a cancer center in Sterling, Colorado, was thankfully due to a philanthropic donation from the Walsh family that started it and we have done our due diligence to maintain it.”

Read more from the Healthcare freefall series:

Finger‑pointing intensifies as Colorado’s healthcare system strains under rising costs, shrinking coverage

Subsidy cuts, insurance gaps reshape how Coloradans will seek care

Once built on federal investment, rural hospitals today fight to survive

Breast cancer survivor shares strain of rural treatment travel

Longer drives, fewer options for maternity care in Colorado