‘A bright, new chapter’

Two Phillips County chambers of commerce, in Holyoke and Haxtun, have decided to retain separate boards, yet operate under the leadership of one executive director, Jessica Allen Ayala. 

Holly Ferguson, former executive director for the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, has been training Allen Ayala since she began work on Jan. 6. Because the Holyoke and Haxtun positions were part-time, Ferguson said, it proved difficult retain past executive directors with the varied work schedule. Haxtun, in particular, has operated without a director for nearly a year.

“It’s not a traditional type of position,” Ferguson said. “Most of the time, you’re going to be out in the community working with businesses, working on the events and the programs… it’s not the traditional clocking-in, clocking-out type of thing.

“We really needed someone who was self-motivated and was a self-starter, and Jessica shows that.”

The ‘perk’ of family ties

By fusing the positions, Allen Ayala enters a full-time career, with accompanying pay and options for benefits. She also brings “a great perk,” according to Ferguson, in her ties to both places. 

Allen Ayala grew up in Holyoke, where she learned to appreciate the safety and community bonds experienced in the city – possibly more, she added, now that she is a parent of three. For those experiencing hardship, she said, a “solid foundation of caring people” was available for support.

The city also introduced her to the “small-business mentality”: In her younger years, Allen Ayala helped her grandparents, who owned the local Dairy King along Interocean Avenue; eventually, it would become a new restaurant, Taqueria Hernandez. Coincidentally, Ferguson happened

to work at Dairy King as a teenager, calling it “one of my favorite jobs.”

Upon graduation from Holyoke High School in 2001, Allen Ayala moved to Haxtun for her job at Haxtun Hospital.

“‘It’s a small town with a big heart’: I keep saying that,” Allen Ayala noted. Because Haxtun “kind of dropped” that motto she continued, she decided to emphasize it both in this interview and her interview with the Haxtun-Fleming Herald. “It’s an incredible little town.”

Filling a need for sleep

While in Haxtun, Allen Ayala began leading sleep studies through Fatigue and Sleep Remedies of Northern Colorado, based in Greeley, Colorado. These studies, she said, helped those dealing with sleep apnea, a disorder where breathing stops and starts repeatedly as one attempts to find rest. When left untreated, it may lead to side effects including daytime fatigue, high blood pressure, liver and heart problems, and Type 2 diabetes.

“There was a need. There was a need for it and they needed someone willing to take it on,” she said. “It is a lot. It’s a lot of [work].”

For the past 12 years – and most of her “adult life” – Allen Ayala “bounced” from Haxtun to Holyoke, as well as Yuma and Julesburg, for her sleep study project. In these studies, called polysomnographies, she examined a sleeping patient’s brainwaves, heart rate, breathing and body movements to determine whether they had sleep apnea.

If she determined a patient to be suffering from the disorder, Allen Ayala then set them up with a continuous positive airway pressure machine, commonly referred to as a CPAP. Sending pressurized air through a mask, and into a person’s mouth and nose, this machine allows a patient to maintain an open airway and thus breathe properly while asleep.

Many of her own family members, Allen Ayala said, have dealt with sleep apnea. While the work proved “a lot” to take on, she added, the benefits were worth the effort. 

“I knew what the job was; I knew how much it helped people,” she said. “And it helped people on such a huge level. I mean, it’s life-changing for most people who get sleep studies done and get their sleep under control.”

A new person has shown interest in continuing to perform these studies for Fatigue and Sleep Remedies, Allen Ayalla said, so “hopefully, they’ll be able to keep going.”

Considering Allen Ayala’s sleep study work, Ferguson said, the new executive director would fit right in at the Haxtun and Holyoke chambers.

“From being in this position, what’s going to help her – definitely – is that she had to be extremely organized,” Ferguson said. “She was handling multiple patients at one time, which is what it’s going to be like [as] chamber director. 

“You’re going to be handling multiple projects and programs, multiple events, all at the same time.”

Looking back, moving forward

Ferguson, who served as executive director of Holyoke’s chamber since January 2020, has moved on to work in a digital marketing agency. Based on her experience as director, she said, much of Allen Ayalla’s work will take place behind the scenes.

The Holyoke Chamber’s current projects include “Welcome to Holyoke” bags for every new resident, work with the state’s Homegrown Talent Initiative for K-12 students, housing development through service on the Housing Committee and helming the Holyoke Community Foundation to secure business grants. For the Community Foundation, Ferguson said, paperwork through the Internal Revenue Service and State of Colorado has officially been finished. 

“I’m sure it’s going to take Jessica a good chunk of time to feel really comfortable about all the events and programs the chamber runs throughout the year,” Ferguson said. “2023 will definitely be a year of new things around every corner.”

Standing out first in her mind regarding her time as executive director, Ferguson remembered how the Holyoke Chamber handled the coronavirus pandemic. Through the chamber’s efforts, she said, local businesses learned of regulations related to COVID-19, even when they seemed to be “changing every single day.”

The “No. 1 thing I’m proudest about,” Ferguson said, was the Help Holyoke campaign, organized by her and Trisha Herman, former executive director for Phillips County Economic Development. Through their efforts – as well as those of newspapers and social media – local residents donated over $90,000 from stimulus checks and more to local businesses affected by shutdowns related to COVID-19. In addition, former Haxtun Chamber Executive Director Jenn Oberle collaborated with Herman to help residents raise $25,000 toward the same goal.

The Holyoke Chamber, Ferguson said, also provided free food delivery during the pandemic through its Holyoke Eats program, as well as free memberships to any business in 2020.

“We were a huge asset for the local businesses and for our local governments,” she said, “in being able to collaborate with the hospitals, state organizations, getting information out and then coming up with programs.”

While Ferguson is “over the moon” to start in the new position, she said, “it’s also a little bit sad” to leave her current spot. In the Holyoke Chamber, she continued, she had the opportunity to work with “intelligent, motivated and driven mentors.”

“It’s been a very special chapter in my life,” she said, “and one I’ll always hold near and dear.”

That said, Ferguson is not leaving the chamber entirely; in her new role, she will hold a spot on the chamber’s Board of Directors beginning in February. So far, she has enjoyed working with Haxtun’s board – and her sister happens to live and teach in the town.

Allen Ayala, according to Ferguson, will prove an “instrumental addition” to both the Holyoke and Haxtun chambers. She looks forward to seeing the future of chamber operations.

“Jessica’s great,” Ferguson said. “I think it’s going to be a bright, new chapter.”

Allen Ayala, meanwhile, said she is “looking forward to all the excitement.” 

The Holyoke Chamber may be reached at 970-854-3517. For the Haxtun Chamber, call 970-774-6104.