HopeWest Medical Team
April Krutka, DO
Hospice & Palliative Care Medical Director
Heidi Marlin, MD
PACE Medical Director
Phil Ramos, MD
Hospice & Palliative Care Associate Medical Director
Crystal Owens, MD
PACE Associate Medical Director
Darrin Green, MD
Physician
Laura Harrison, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Casey Peiffer, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Kirsten Wiegert, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Ann Cromika, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Deb Bailey, NP
Nurse Practitioner
April Krutka, DO
Hospice & Palliative Care Medical Director
After completing a Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2012, Dr. Krutka spent the first part of her career at HopeWest, where she developed a hospital-based palliative care consultation service at St. Mary’s Hospital while also practicing hospice. In 2015, she moved to Utah where she served in various leadership roles focused on expanding access to Serious Illness solutions at a local, regional, and national level.
Dr. Krutka’s work has been recognized nationally among her colleagues for her efforts in advancing the field of Hospice and Palliative Care through a combination of clinical expertise and business strategy. In 2019, she was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. This honor is achieved by members whose professional activity is devoted to the practice of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Heidi Marlin, MD
PACE Medical Director
Dr. Marlin has worked with HopeWest in the Delta and Montrose areas since 2011. She is certified as a Hospice Medical Director and board-certified in Family Medicine. Prior to her career in hospice and palliative medicine, she practiced full-spectrum family medicine from 2008-2012.
She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Northern Colorado Family Medicine in Greeley, Colorado, and obtained her medical degree from Oregon Health and Sciences University School of Medicine in 2005.
She is married to a family practice physician and they have two girls. Outside of work she enjoys running, skiing and spending time outdoors with her family.
Phil Ramos, MD
Hospice & Palliative Care Associate Medical Director
Dr. Ramos started with HopeWest in August 2023. He attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He stayed at Baylor for his internal medicine residency and served as Chief Medical Resident at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. Dr. Ramos completed his nephrology fellowship at Vanderbilt Medical Center.
He moved to Denver, Colorado in 2009 and worked as a nephrologist in private practice for nearly 10 years. He decided to pursue a career in palliative medicine and hospice and left nephrology practice to train at the Harvard Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated in 2019. He has worked at a hospice provider in the Front Range of Colorado since 2020. Dr. Ramos is a full-time hospice provider with HopeWest.
In his free time he enjoys spending time with family and friends, lifting weights, running, playing guitar, and traveling.
Crystal Owens, MD
PACE Associate Medical Director
Dr. Owens grew up in Georgia in a family of preachers and teachers who instilled in her the desire to serve others. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from the University of West Georgia and subsequently attended Loma Linda University School of Medicine where she received her M.D. Training at Loma Linda focusing on treating patients as whole people with spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.
Her residency training was in Family Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah. While in residency she started working in hospice and enjoyed being part of a team that met not only the patient’s needs but their family’s as well. She has been board certified in Family Medicine since 2004.
Her work experience in Utah included being Medical Director of a hospice and palliative care program with a 22-bed inpatient hospice unit and working for Intermountain HealthCare’s senior clinics. She moved to Grand Junction in 2013 to work with HopeWest’s hospice and palliative care programs. From 2019-2022 she worked at MarillacHealth as CMO and as a primary care physician. Dr. Owens returned to HopeWest in 2022.
Outside of work, Dr. Owens enjoys hiking with her husband and their dog.
Darrin Green, MD
Physician
Dr. Green joined HopeWest in October 2022 at our Montrose location. Prior to joining HopeWest, Dr. Green provided care at the Montrose Veterans clinic for two years, was part of the Cedar Point Health Family Medicine Clinic in Montrose for three years, and in private practice in Montrose for 14 years as well as providing inpatient care at Montrose Regional Health until 2020.
Dr. Green also served on Montrose Regional Health’s Medical Executive Committee from 2009-2016 and was Chief of Staff 2015-2016. He attended medical school at the University of Colorado graduating in 2000 and completed a Family Medicine Residency in Denver in 2003.
Dr. Green grew up in Montrose and has a degree in Molecular Biology and German from the University of Colorado in Boulder. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, bike riding, and building furniture and guitars.
Laura Harrison, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Laura Harrison has been a nurse since 1980 and completed her nurse practitioner degree from the University of Colorado in 2007. She also completed a Palliative Care Fellowship program in Los Angeles, California, in 2008. She has worked with HopeWest intermittently since 2004 and we were happy to have her return to work with us full-time again in February 2021. She is from Southern California and loves living in Grand Junction because of all the amazing hiking and cycling opportunities. She is also a proud grandmother.
Casey Peiffer, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Casey Peiffer started working for HopeWest in 2017 as an RN. She has practiced nursing in the community setting, quality department and at the Ferris Care Center before becoming a Nurse Practitioner. In 2021, she graduated from Walden University with a Master of Science as a certified Family Nurse Practitioner. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family in the mountains, four-wheeling, boating, camping and crafting.
Kirsten Wiegert, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Kirsten Wiegert is a board-certified Adult and Gerontologic Nurse Practitioner who joined HopeWest in 2022 after providing primary care in the Grand Valley since 2016. She brings a broad nursing knowledge and experience with her and is grateful for the opportunity to continue to provide patient-specific and compassionate care for patients. She received her undergraduate and graduate nursing education from Kaplan University. Her clinical interests include frailty, aging in place, and medical care of marginalized groups.
In her free time, she can be found with her husband, children and grandchildren, with pets, in the mountains, gardening, or being creative.
Ann Cromika, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Ann Cromika is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner. She started as a paramedic in 2000, received her nursing degree in 2007 and became an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner in 2012 when she received her Master’s from Colorado State University. Born in Michigan, she knows what it’s like to experience all seasons in one day, which helped her adapt quickly to the Colorado lifestyle. She loves spending time with her granddaughter, Dawn, and her dog, Abby, exploring the mountains and scenic areas of Colorado.
Deb Bailey, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Debra Bailey is a 5th-generation native of Grand Junction, now with two 7th-generation grandchildren. Community and family are the heartbeat of Debra’s purpose. She received her undergraduate nursing degrees from Colorado Mesa University in ADN, BSN in 1980 and 1987. She received her degree as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner in 1985 from South Dakota State University. In 1993 and 1998 Deb completed her graduate nursing education in Community Health, Leadership and Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Colorado Health Sciences. Deb also has a PhD in Nursing from the University of Colorado, Denver, received in 2013.
She practices person and family-centered care with the guiding principle of Jean Watson’s teachings and theory, “Maybe this one moment, with this one person, is the very reason we are here on Earth at this time.”
Justine Maedeker, NP
Nurse Practitioner
Justine joined the HopeWest PACE team in February 2024. She is originally from the St. Louis area and has lived in various locations in Colorado for the past six years. Justine is a dual ANCC-certified nurse practitioner in adult-gerontology primary care and psychiatric mental health.
When she is not working, Justine enjoys being outdoors, walking with her dog, reading, and participating at the club level in Toastmasters International.
Devin Millard, MD
Physician
She was a hospice medical director in Utah for 8 years, then the Medical Director of the Palliative Care Service at the VA hospital in Salt Lake City. She joined HopeWest in 2023.
Outside of work, Dr Millard enjoys spending time with her husband, twin daughters and dog, Izzy.
Carol Fowler, MD
Physician
Dr. Carol Fowler received her undergraduate degree in anthropology from Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, and her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado. She completed her family practice residency at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado where she has resided with her family since 1985.
Dr. Fowler is board certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and in Family Medicine and began working for HopeWest in 2009 after having a family member in hospice services. Currently, she is also employed at St. Mary’s Hospital as the palliative care physician for their in-patient multidisciplinary Palliative Care Service. Her professional interests are hospice and palliative medicine and medical care of persons with intellectual disabilities.
Prior to receiving her medical degree, Dr. Fowler was an archeologist for 9 years. She has been knitting since she was eight years old and enjoys spinning yarn, weaving, and playing the piano.