A joyful journey

There is a place where humans are few and cows are numerous. It is a place where mountains soar above the largest high-altitude alpine valley on earth. The valley is 7,500 feet above sea-level and some of the peaks that surround it reach 14,000 feet. At 8,000 acres, the San Luis Valley encompasses six counties and contains portions of three more. The valley is also home to the headwaters of the famous

Surveyor Rio Grande river.

Columnist Facts aside, the San Luis Valley is considered a magical place, and many people happily live a peaceful and off-grid existence here. It is home to Crestone, this tiny town is said to have more religious centers per capita than anywhere else in the world. Crestone is about a half-hour from Joyful Journey Hot Springs, Heidi which is located in MofKerr-Schlaefer fat, population 120. Head east on Highway 285 and in 20 minutes land in Saguache, a slightly bigger community with around 500 residents. The hot springs are also about an hour from Great Sand Dunes National Park.

A soak at Joyful Journey is a wonderful way to experience the enchanting calm of the San Luis Valley. It’s not only a hot springs destination but there it has lodging and camping too. If you have always wanted to stay in a yurt, for instance, they have those. They also have lodge rooms, tipis, RV sites and campsites. There’s also a two-bedroom home available to rent.

In addition to lodging, this is an event venue hosting yoga retreats, medita-

tion retreats and more. Lastly, they offer spa services. Most of us, however, visit because of the hot springs. There are three pools and a built-in fire feature on one of the patios. The pools are sheltered from the elements by see-through plastic walls that allow for expansive views of the San de Cristo mountain range. In fact, soaking here at sunset can feel like sitting in the middle of a Rocky Mountain postcard. The hottest pool is connected to the other two by a boarded walkway with a rope railing. This walk provides unfiltered panoramas of the photogenic mountain range. The pools are heated to between 98 and 108 degrees. The water has a combination of beneficial minerals like magnesium. The hottest pool is therapeutic for sore muscles and joints or those suffering from arthritis. The cool pool is for visitors who want to receive the benefits of a soak here but can’t tolerate hot water. The mid-temp pool is perfect for a long soak.

During Coronavirus, please be aware that a limited number of visitors will be allowed into the pool during a two-hour session. While not required, it is recommended that reservations be made ahead of your visit. There are extended soak times for guests of Joyful Journey’s lodging allowing for an immersive experience in the early morning or late evening.

Learn more at JoyfulJourneyHotSprings.com.

B DY S UL Berthoud Weekly Surveyor September 24, 2020 Page 7 Health • Fitness • Mind • Spirit • Medicine • Well-Being dicine •W Wh• Fitness •h pirit •pi

Dr. Helen Fickel — a pion ring woman

When 23-year-old Dr. D.W. McCarty stepped off the train in Berthoud to set up a medical practice in 1892, he probably didn’t have a clue that 40 years later his daughter would follow him into medicine. Tales of the Helen McCarty Fickel Little Thompson did just that in 1933 when she was the only female member in a class of 52 graduates from the University of Colorado Medical School and came home to Berthoud to work as a genMark French eral practitioner

Surveyor Columnist from 1933 to 1946. When Helen’s father arrived in Berthoud in the early 1890s, the tiny farm town was a collection of houses and business buildings clustered around the Colorado & Southern railroad tracks.

The doctor boarded at Turner’s Grandview Hotel at the corner of Fourth Street and Massachusetts Avenue and had a horse and buggy held for him at the local livery stable for emergency house calls.

When automobiles came on the scene

in the early 1900s, McCarty purchased a fi ve-passenger Maxwell touring car and used it to cover a territory that extended from Berthoud to Johnstown and Mead.

In 1929, ten years after the death of his wife, Jennie, McCarty’s medical career was cut short when he suffered a severe coronary attack. He closed the offi ce building he built in 1899 at 338 Massachusetts Ave. and discon- tinued his practice.

In 1933 when daughter Helen completed her internship at Colorado General Hospital, he talked her out of training to be a psychiatrist and invited her to return home and open a doctor’s offi ce in the family home at 45 Seventh St.

Knowing the importance of a car at a time when most doctoring was done through house calls, he also purchased an Oldsmobile automobile for her use.

Helen accepted her father’s offer, relocated to Berthoud and changed two ground oor rooms in the home to a doctor s offi ce. The maid s quarters were converted into an examintion room, and the living room was transformed into a waiting area. The basement was also outfi tted to serve as a lab.

When her father’s patients learned that Helen was practicing medicine, they began calling to request her services. Since there were two Dr. McCartys living in the home and they both answered the telephone, people began referring to Helen as “Dr. Helen” to distinguish her

from her father.

Former patients — many in their seventies and eighties — continue to address her by that title today.

In the fall of 1933, the 26-year-old Dr. Helen established a practice in Berthoud that kept her busy around the clock. She received patients at her home offi ce and made house calls at all hours of the day.

She volunteered to give smallpox vaccinations at the local high school, delivered babies and fi t patients with eye glasses. She attended to broken bones and contagious illnesses and used her automobile as a makeshift ambulance when emergencies arose.

Her car became an ambulance late one night when she was called to a home several miles east of Berthoud to treat a farmer who was suffering from appendicitis.

Helen recalled, “I told his wife I would have to take him to the hospital. They had some small children and she thought she ought to get somebody to look after them while she went to the hospital. So she went outside and backed into my car and broke the headlights. I had to drive to Longmont in the dark with no head- Photo special to the Surveyor lights. I think one of them would shine up Helen McCarty (now Fickel) stands with in the sky so at least some- one could see her father, Dr. D.W. McCarty, at her me coming.” graduation from the University of Colo-

The elder Dr. McCarty proved to be a rado Medical School in 1933. valuable mentor to his daughter. Helen remembered that, “I learned more from working with him than I learned in all my years in medical school.” Her father was an old-time doctor who was trained to diagnose by using his senses of smell, taste and feel. Ac- cording to Helen, it wasn’t uncommon for him to make a diagnosis upon walking into a home and detecting a distinctive odor. Other insights he shared with He- len also proved invaluable. At the end of her fi rst month, Helen told her fa- ther that she must mail out her bills. He replied, “You never need to do that. These farmers are reliable and you don’t ever need to send them a bill but maybe once a year. They’ll pay you when they harvest their crop.” Helen remembered, “And so I did and it worked, but it probably would- n’t work that way now.” In short order, delivering and car- ing for babies became Dr. Helen’s favorite part of the practice. In the 1930s when she began her career, pre-natal care was nearly non-existent and the fi rst call to the doctor came when it was time to deliver the baby. Helen delivered dozens of babies in area homes and set herself apart from her fellow doctors by following up with postnatal care for at least three weeks after the birth of the child. Her commitment to improving the care of infants was so strong that for a year she drove to Estes Park one day each week to work in a well-baby clinic that had been set up in the mountain community. In 1942, when Helen married a young America entered the war, and in June of 1943, Bruce was “procured” for military service in the war effort. Penicillin emerged as a miracle drug, and a new era of medicine was under-way. When Bruce returned from the war in 1945, the couple started a family that grew to include son Bruce Jr. and daughter Jane. Helen closed the doors of her practice with the idea of returning to it when her children reached high school age. Doctoring was placed on the back-burner as she plunged into motherhood and community affairs. By the 1960s when Helen planned to resume her practice, it was appar-ent that antibiotics had changed the fi eld of medicine to the extent that she would need to re-train. Rather than return to school, she redoubled her volunteer efforts in community organizations that includ-ed the Presbyterian Church, Girl Scouts and the local historical society. A few years ago, Dr. Helen — the oldest graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine — was honored at the school s commence-ment exercises. The fi eld continues to hold her interest as she marvels at the latest advances and miracles of modern medicine. When re ecting on her career as a physician, Dr. Helen said, “I love people and I was pleased knowing that I could be of service to them in their time of need.” Members of the Berthoud commu-nity attest to the fact that over the years she did exactly that and her efforts were greatly appreciated in this small town. dentist in town, Dr. Bruce Fickel, the world changed along with her name.