Kathy Swanstrom:

 Kathy is the Administrator/LPN of Aspen Leaf Assisted Living Residence. She grew up in North Dakota and moved to Denver in 1993. At the young age of 16, she started her career as a Certified Nursing Assistant and fell in love with working in the field of geriatrics. This passion gave her the opportunities to work in various areas in the healthcare field culminating in management areas of assisted living and long-term care. During this time, she received college degrees in Business Management and Health Information Management and found the time to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. In order to improve her understanding of and improve her ability to provide care for the elderly she pursued additional training in the following areas: Personal Care Boarding Home Owner/Operator Certification, American Heart Association BLS, Eden Alternative Associate, TimeSlips Storytelling, Certified Activity Professional, Memories in the Making, Validation Therapy along with many more continuing education programs. The combination of education and real life experience provided Kathy with a wealth of experience and knowledge and a desire to apply the best practices she had learned to an Assisted Living Home of her own one day.

That day happened in 2010.  After many years of living in the Denver area she felt the need to slow her life down a little. She chose to move to Flagler after a close friend who grew up there suggested it would be a great place to live. His directions to Flagler were quite simple – “Head East on I-70 until the radio station dies out then get off the highway”. Soon after arriving in Flagler she found out the local assisted living was for sale. She contacted her good friend, Dan, to see if they could team up and make Aspen Leaf - Flagler a truly spectacular place for the community. Implementing the very best practices she had learned over the years, Aspen Leaf Flagler opened in in 2011 and enjoyed a house full of residents as well as a waiting list during most of that time. In 2015, the opportunity came available to purchase another Assisted Living in the neighboring town of Stratton, Colorado. In order to keep the residents in their home they worked quickly to purchase the property and push the state license through. They proudly opened Aspen Leaf – Stratton and implemented the same passion in caring for the elderly as they had in Flagler. Soon Stratton filled up with happy residents and started building a waiting list of its own.

Fast forward another 5 years, and we pursued purchasing the two larger Assisted Living Facilities in Limon. These homes complete our Aspen Leaf Assisted Living community and give us 82 beds in three unique communities on the Eastern Plains of Colorado. With the help of Stephanie in Limon, Kathy oversees the management of all homes to  ensure compliance with state regulations to ensure the staff and residents have the best of everything!

Dan Swanstrom:

Dan grew up in northern Minnesota the son of small business owners and left in 1986 at the age of 18 to join the Navy. He enjoyed tours throughout the world and loved leading and managing the best men and women of the US military. While assigned in Colorado, he knew this was going to be the place he was going to call home after retirement. In 2012, Dan retired after serving 26 years of his life as an active duty member in both enlisted and officer roles. During his military career, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with the hopes to use it upon his retirement. Meeting Kathy, he learned about the world of assisted living and all of its possibilities. He enjoyed the idea of being able to give back to the men and women that he has served all of these years and continuously implements plans to improve the lives of the elderly in small communities.  You will often find Dan visiting with the residents in one of the homes getting feedback in order to ensure they are getting the very best care possible!

Stephanie Helton:

Stephanie moved to the Eastern Plains of Colorado when she was just 11 years old. She graduated from Limon High School in 2002. After losing her grandmother at a young age during her senior year of high school Stephanie decided she wanted to work in the medical field and take care of others. In 2006 she made the choice to become a CNA. Stephanie’s love for this profession has grown throughout different jobs she has had as a CNA and caregiver in both long-term care and assisted living. Stephanie decided she didn’t want to stop at just being a CNA/Caregiver. In 2011 she started college classes to become a nurse, during her time doing that Stephanie became a caregiver for her mother as well, who had been diagnosed with a terminally disease. Stephanie continued working as a caregiver for both her job and her mother and put school on hold to spend quality time with her mom. When Stephanie’s mother passed away Stephanie decided to continue with her education to pursue her dreams of taking care of others. In 2018 Stephanie enrolled in Purdue University to obtain her bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration. Stephanie continued working as a caregiver at an assisted living home in Limon, while finishing her degree. Stephanie graduated from Purdue University in March of 2020. She became part of the Aspen Leaf family in May of 2020.  Stephanie is the administrator of our Limon homes.