Meet Ryan Bezzant
We had the good fortune of connecting with Ryan Bezzant and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Ryan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
For a few years my wife Yetzi and I had tossed around ideas of potential businesses. We shared a deep entrepreneurial spirit and longed to create something unique, take risks and bring a vision to life. We started and operated a successful dance studio, but closed it when we decided to move to Colorado Springs in 2018. We tossed around different business ideas, but could never land on a specific one. With 3 small children, we spent the little extra time we had discussing business ideas and working on self-improvement
The idea for our anesthesia practice was sparked by a few conversations with our friends in the dental community. They highlighted a significant gap in anesthesia services, particularly in mobile settings and dental offices. These Dentists said the current anesthesia services offered were cost prohibitive and that they sometimes had to wait months to secure an anesthesia provider for their offices. We conducted market research and confirmed this need for mobile anesthesia services. This feedback, combined with our entrepreneurial spirit, resulted in the creation of Comfort Anesthesia. Born out of Colorado Springs, Comfort Anesthesia provides mobile anesthesia services as well as all types of anesthesia care along the Front Range and the state of Colorado. We filled this gap with high-quality, affordable, and convenient care. It was a perfect way to blend my profession with our desire for personal and business growth.
Being somewhat naive, I thought that having anesthesia practice meant I would have more free time to be with my family and hobbies. Coming from a hospital background, anesthesia coverage requires much time away from the family including evening, overnight, holidays, weekends, and on-call shifts. My thinking was that as a business owner, I could set my own hours and schedule. While setting my business hours was a huge perk of the job, I quickly realized that the other parts of owning a business led to working on guess what?……… nights, weekends, and holidays as well as constantly having the feeling of being on call. This is a part of being an entrepreneur that I don’t feel most people understand and has taken time to resolve.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
A huge difference that sets us apart from others is our patient centered focus. Coming from a hospital background, I noticed a significant gap in current care standards, especially in patient-centered approaches. Often, patients are seen merely as procedures or numbers rather than individuals with unique needs. I wanted to change this by ensuring every patient is treated as a whole person, with empathy and personalized care. My vision was to create a practice that not only excels in anesthesia care but also fosters a compassionate and personalized environment where patients feel heard and valued. This approach improves outcomes and patient satisfaction as well as simply makes the job rewarding and fun.
There isn’t one approach to anesthesia that fits every Centers needs. Part of providing a successful anesthesia service is to put the correct providers in the right environment that suits their strengths. Some centers thrive off of a care team approach with both anesthesiologist and CRNAs; others require providers to be independent practitioners with freedom to practice based off of their strengths or the facilities preferences. A successful practice listens to the facilities needs and builds a team that can meet and exceed them.
As a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) myself, starting this business was also driven by a desire to promote the CRNA profession. I wanted to highlight the critical role we play in healthcare and demonstrate the high level of expertise, care, and dedication CRNAs bring to the anesthesiology field. CRNA’s provide over 58 million anesthetics each year in the US and have practiced for over 150 years and have 10,000 hours of clinical experience between anesthesia and their nursing background by graduation. Many people, including Hospital Administrators, Doctors and Surgeons don’t realize that CRNA’s are trained to handle 100% of the anesthesia care independently and should be expected to do this and at a cost savings. A significant challenge is to overcome the misinformation that CRNAs must practice underneath the supervision of an anesthesiologist. Colorado is a great state to work for CRNAs because our government has recognized the skill of CRNA’s and has granted them full autonomy. Comfort Anesthesia is a platform to advocate for the CRNA profession and showcase the vital contributions they make. As a business, it really comes down to simply provide the best anesthesia care possible regardless of title. We should be working side by side with our anesthesiologist colleagues instead of defending our professions. At the end of the day, patient care is the priority of our specialty and that should be the focus. I’ve had many great mentors and teachers that are both CRNA’s and anesthesiologists and have a deep respect for all of them. We need to find ways to come together as anesthesia providers and so much more positivity and advancements in anesthesia could result if we unify our time, energy, and abilities.
One of the most significant challenges we’ve faced in expanding as an independent anesthesia practice is competing with large nationwide anesthesia groups. These conglomerates have substantial negotiating power, abundant resources, and strong lobbying and connections that allow them to secure exclusive contracts with hospitals and surgical center systems. This has led to the consolidation of many smaller practices, making it challenging for independent providers like us to gain a foothold. The downside of these large conglomerates is less personal care and ownership which ultimately trickles down to subpar patient care and satisfaction.
To overcome this, we focus on our unique strengths: personalized patient care, flexibility, and building strong relationships within the medical community and centers. By offering exceptional service and showcasing the value of independent practices, we can carve out our niche. Additionally, staying adaptable, continuously improving our services, and leveraging innovative approaches will help us build strong partnerships and succeed in a competitive landscape and impact the community.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was visiting the Colorado Springs and Denver area, I’d ensure they had an unforgettable experience. We’d start with the Manitou Incline, a must for anyone visiting. The intense workout ascends over 2,000 feet elevation straight up the mountian with nearly 3,000 steps up the mountain and rewards you with breathtaking views. After the climb, we’d stop in Manitou Springs to fill up our water bottles in any of the natural springs, play some old school arcade games at the Penny Arcade and follow it with some delicious BBQ and moist biscuit at Rudy’s BBQ.
Another day we’d check out the Olympic Museum as Colorado Springs is named Olympic City USA. We’d then golf at any of the beautiful golf courses in the area like the Broadmoor, Flying Horse, Kissing Camels, Eisenhower, Patty Jewett or Four Mile Ranch. We’d finish the night and unwind at Roadhouse Cinemas for a movie and dinner, enjoying the small luxury cinema experience.
The next morning, we’d savor pastries and coffee at La Concha, a charming new bakery with a Latin twist, before hopping on our bikes and making the short ride to the nearby built out trail system, The Chutes. To cap off the day we could enjoy a high-end dining experience at any one of The Broadmoor’s renowned restaurants, taking in the stunning views, beautiful landscaping, and exquisite food.
Another day, we’d make the short drive down to Pueblo Reservoir for some early morning wakeboarding or waverunning while the water is still glass. We could set up shop on a beach or in a cove and pass the day away. Before leaving you must drive into Pueblo and have a world renowned Slopper and Schooner at Coors Tavern.
We’d also spend a day at Water World in Denver soaking up the sun for some fun on the slides, and cap it off with a unique dinner and experience at Casa Bonita.
Finally, a visit to Colorado wouldn’t be complete without heading up into a mountain town. One of my favorite summer activities is to downhill mountain bike at Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park for an adrenaline-filled day. Leave the cardio at home by taking the lift up each time, but the downhill setup of the bike park, features, and trails will leave you exhausted but wanting to do it all over again. This itinerary would offer an exciting mix of adventure and unforgettable experiences.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My wife Yetzi deserves more than just a little credit and recognition for this story; she deserves a great deal of recognition for the creation and success of Comfort Anesthesia. She is an incredibly talented, intelligent, and driven person who sees possibilities where others might not. Her vision and insight have been crucial to our journey, helping us navigate challenges and seize opportunities.
Beyond her brilliance, Yetzi is a devoted mother, an accomplished ballerina, and a successful life coach and health guru. She has an extraordinary ability to help people unlock their potential and see the best in themselves. Her mastery of communication, love, and entrepreneurship has been a guiding force in our business and in my personal growth.
Yetzi’s unwavering support, wisdom, and love are the foundation of Comfort Anesthesia’s success. She is not only my partner in life but also in business, and her contributions have been invaluable in shaping our journey and vision.
Anyone who feels like they should be or could be doing more with their life should reach out to Yetzi. Her wisdom and coaching strategies can take you to places you thought weren’t previously attainable.
Website: https://www.comfort-anesthesia.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comfortanesthesia/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-bezzant-2b62b8188/
Other: TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@comfort.anesthesia
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
