Denver Health Medical Center - Denver Health

Denver Health Medical Center, formerly named Denver General Hospital and sometimes abbreviated to Denver Health, is a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, founded in 1860. It is one of four Level I Trauma Centers in Colorado. Denver Health is one of the primary teaching hospitals in Denver and is affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver, Children's Hospital Colorado, and the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Aurora, Colorado.

Organization

Denver Health is an integrated health care system that consists of:

• The main Hospital houses the Rocky Mountain Regional Level 1 Trauma Center (RMRTC) and 525 beds. In 2008, the RMRTC was recognized by the American College of Surgeons as the best trauma center in the United States, based on survival rates.
• Denver Health operates the 911 medical response system for the City and County of Denver. The emergency medical services (EMS) at Denver Health includes Denver Paramedics, 911 operators, and dispatchers. In 2008, Denver Health paramedics responded to more than 84,000 calls for emergency medical assistance.
• The Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center (RMPDC) handles most minor poisoning emergencies by telephone. In addition the Center’s staff of toxicologists cares for seriously ill patients in the hospital. Through Denver Health’s 24-hour NurseLine (housed in the RMPDC), patients can get free and confidential answers to health-related questions, possibly avoiding costly Emergency Room visits.
• A ten clinic network of Family health centers throughout Denver.
• 18 school based clinics in the Denver Public Schools including locations serving the district, neighborhood, and specific school-based sites.
• Denver CARES detoxification services.
• Correctional care. The main Hospital is equipped with wards capable of caring for inmates from the county jails and Colorado Department of Corrections inmates.
• The Rocky Mountain Center for Medical Response to Terrorism, Mass Casualties and Epidemics.

The Denver Department of Environmental Health (DEH), a Denver government agency, manages and oversees the operating agreement to contract with Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA) to provide services related to the medical investigations and medical services for disease control (including clinics)and the administration of vital birth and death records. DEH and Denver Public Health work together to conduct communicable disease reporting, investigation, and control for Denver. Public and environmental health functions and regulatory authority remains with DEH. DHHA provides communicable disease surveillance and medically oriented public health functions through their Denver Public Health (DPH) department.

Through numerous grant-funded programs, DPH conducts important research on infectious diseases, including hepatitis surveillance; tuberculosis clinical trials; HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling, testing and treatment; and vaccine trials.

Denver Paramedics

Denver Paramedics is a hospital based paramedic service that is based out of Denver Health. Denver Paramedics are contracted to provide the 911 medical services to The City and County of Denver, The City of Glendale, and Denver International Airport.

The Denver Health Paramedic Division has a fleet of 31 ambulances. At peak times Denver Paramedics has 14 Advance Life support Ambulances available, that are staffed by two Paramedics. and 6 Basic Life Support Ambulances available, that are staffed by two Basic EMT's.

Denver Paramedics respond to an average of 80,000 calls for service a year, an average of 219 calls a day. More than 46,000 patients are transported to Denver area hospitals a year by Denver Paramedics.

The largest number of emergency calls that Denver Paramedics respond to are auto accidents, alcohol intoxication, altered mental status, psychiatric emergencies, falls, chest pain, and shortness of breath, followed by assaults, abdominal pain, seizure, and overdose. Cardiac arrest calls account for one half of one percent of all emergency calls.

Governance

The hospital is formally part of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA), created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1994, and transitioned from the Denver Department of Health and Hospitals to an independent authority in 1997. The DHHA is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors, who are appointed for five years by the Mayor of Denver and confirmed by the Denver City Council.

History

Denver General was established in 1860. The hospital was originally founded near 11th and Wazee, but in 1873, a new medical center was built at the corner of 6th Avenue and Cherokee; this is where Denver Health is located to this day.

The hospital was well known for founding the first nursing school west of the Mississippi and for being one of the earliest facilities for treating Tuberculosis.

The hospital employed many health care visionaries, including, Florence Sabin, who was instrumental in creating a functional Public Health department.

On January 1, 1997, Denver General became a quasi-state agency and was renamed Denver Health Medical Center.

In 1989 a book was written about The Denver General ER, The Knife and Gun Club, Scenes from an Emergency Room by photographer Eugene Richards which received an Award of Excellence from the American College of Emergency Physicians. The book is a collection of stories taken from the Emergency Room and ambulances.