Fundraisers and Grants

Board Members and Staff

Dr. Gullette is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Louisville, Colorado. She has worked as a psychologist in a variety of agencies--mental health; alcohol recovery; domestic violence--and in a psychiatric hospital and in public schools. She has worked and lived in rural Colorado, in an industrial city in Colorado, and in Boulder. She currently also works on health care reform by volunteering as Board Member and Program Director of Balanced Choice Health Care, Inc. "I've seen health care coverage problems from many angles, and consider it a privilege to participate in the problem-solving process."

Nathan J. Wilkes Vice-President

Nathan Wilkes was so worried about the possible effects of Bush administration health care proposals on his ability to provide coverage for his chronically ill son that he decided to travel to the national capital to voice his concerns. A computer network security expert who earns over $100,000 a year, Wilkes works for a private firm outside of Denver which fits into the large-group insurance category and is allowed to shop around for different providers each year. But when his son Thomas, born with severe hemophilia, developed a resistance to treatment at age one, Wilkes's health care claims soared; his company's insurance provider soon began hiking premiums 40 to 55 percent each year and introduced a lifetime cap of $1 million for all employees and their families, including Thomas. Soon, no other insurance companies would offer to cover the company. Worried he would no longer be able to provide coverage for his son, Wilkes turned to state and local groups for help. Physicians for a National Health Program took up his cause and brought him to Washington D.C, where he hoped to persuade Congress to reject the Bush administrartion's plan in favor of universal health care legislation.

Mickail Farrin, RN BSN MS Secretary

Mickail is currently serving as Secretary for the HCAC Foundation. “Miki” graduated from the University of Michigan in the early 60ies and later completed a Master’s in Health Service Administration. Now retired, she worked in many facets of Nursing including Public Health, Psych, Hospice, ICU/CCU, Dialysis, Kaiser Permanente QA, Utilization, Case manager. and VA hospital as a temp, floor nurse. An avid downhill skier, she ran Woodspur Ski Lodge in Winter Park, CO from 75’ – 85’. Her three children have given her 8 grandchildren whom she adores. She gardens, cooks, meditates, and loves music.

Ivan J.Miller , Ph.D. Treasurer

Ivan Miller is a psychologist who has worked in health care reform as an advocate for consumers and professionals since 1994. Since the beginning of his work, he and his colleagues have said, “There must be a better way to provide health care in the U.S.” Believing that single payer was the foundation for curing the health care system, he and his colleagues thought that traditional single payer still needed improvement and flexibility. Collaborating with consumers and professionals, he gradually developed a hybrid model of health care reform, called Balanced Choice, that inserts some market forces in a single payer system, and in 2006, published a book, Balanced Choice: A Common Sense Cure for the U.S. Health Care Systems, a proposal designed to serve consumers, benefit providers, and relieve employers. As a prior Hospital and Hospital Alternative Program Manager for the Boulder County Mental Health Center, Executive Director of the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers, Inc., and Chair of the Board of the Patient Advocacy Coalition, and as an ongoing President of the Boulder Psychotherapists Guild, Inc., Executive Director of Balanced Choice Health Care, Inc., Co-Chair of the Interdivisional (39/42) Task Force on Managed Care and Health Care Reform in the American Psychological Association, and owner of his private practice as a psychologist for 23 years, he brings a wealth of business, nonprofit, and government management experience, from the roles of patient, provider, employer, and government, to help him serve in his position as Treasurer of HCAC Foundation.

Elinor T. Christiansen, MD Past President and Co-Founder

Elinor Christiansen, MD is a retired physician whose career has included private medical practice doing general medicine, inner-city maternal and child health clinics, college health for twenty years at a university with a mandatory health fee and single-payer universal health insurance plan, medical administration, clinical teaching, and rural community health clinics in underserved communities in the mountains west of Denver. Dr. Christiansen's passion for universal healthcare through single-payer insurance grows out of her wealth of personal and professional experiences. She has traveled to Norway, Finland, Netherlands and Scotland to study their national health plans and learned first-hand of their problems and their successes. Dr. Christiansen is a member of the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and the American Medical Women's Association (AMWA), having served as its national President in 2002. She also served for three years as President of the Board of Directors of Health Care for All Colorado.

Tom Bost, MD

Born in Chicago and raised in Kalamazoo, Mich., Dr. Bost is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical Program. He came to Colorado in 1983 for residency and fellowship in internal medicine pulmonary and critical care medicine and did research at National Jewish Hospital. He is married to Irene Aguilar M.D. and is the father of a son (15) and twin girls (13). He enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, reading, writing, and is a proud member of the James Joyce Reading Club.

John Valvano, LCSW, CACIII

John Valvano is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Certified Addictions Counselor (CAC III) in the State of Colorado. He is a member of the National Association of Social Workers - Colorado Chapter and the Colorado Association of Disability Examiners. Valvano has been involved in human services work for over 25 years, both in private, nonprofit organzations and as a public employee with the State of Colorado. He has a wide range of personal and professional experience in the areas of health, mental health, developmental disabilities, housing, family self-sufficiency, and disability programs. He has been recognized for his service to people who are compromised in their health and mental health capabilities, as well as to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Valvano believes that we are all shareholders in creating a health care system that best serves the needs of all Coloradans. As an expert witness to the tragedies of our current health care system, Valvano advocates for a single-payer system that provides all people with accessible, affordable, comprehensive and high-quality health and mental health care.

Hazel Gibson B.A.

Hazel is retired from the University of Northern Colorado where she worked as an office manager at Performing and Visual Arts events. She is the former president of the League of Women Voters in Greeley, a volunteer at public library book sales, serves meals at the Senior Center, and is a member of First Christian Church. Hazel graduated from William Jewell College with an Elementary Education degree and taught school for a few years. She then worked at the University of Alabama in the Performing and Visual Arts Department doing public relations and ticket sales. After her move to Colorado, she was again hired with Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Northern Colorado.

GwenEllyn Nordquist, Ph.D.

GwenEllyn Nordquist, Ph.D. has a diverse educational background which has led to her interest in learning and cognitive processing problems. Her own academic fields are Communication Theory and Sociology. She has taught at the university level, worked in social agencies, and taught English and communication courses in Japan. Her diverse background has been brought to bear on understanding the root causes of learning difficulties and the Cognitive Connections™ program is the result.

GwenEllyn has also taken her skills into the business world. She has worked in service, sales, production, media and marketing, union, and management positions. This background has given her a grounded view of daily life and a wide variety of peoples’ lives. All of this has put her rather resoundingly “outside the box.” Her thinking is creative and wide-ranging, an asset to everyone with whom she comes into contact.

Meredith Preston Program Administrator

Meredith Preston has over 20 years experience working with non-profit organizations in fund-raising, media support and government relations.