Denver Health Medical Center

Denver Health Medical Center
Denver Health and Hospital Authority
Geography
Location 777 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado, United States
Coordinates 39°43′44″N 104°59′26″W / 39.7288°N 104.9906°W / 39.7288; -104.9906Coordinates: 39°43′44″N 104°59′26″W / 39.7288°N 104.9906°W / 39.7288; -104.9906
Organization
Affiliated university University of Colorado Denver
Services
Emergency department Level I trauma center
Beds 477
History
Founded 1860
Links
Website denverhealth.org
Lists Hospitals in Colorado

Denver Health Medical Center, formerly named Denver General Hospital and sometimes abbreviated to Denver Health, Denver General or DG, is a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, founded in 1860. It is one of four Level I Trauma Centers in Colorado.[1] Denver Health is one of the primary teaching hospitals in Denver and is affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver.

Organization

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

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5][6][7]

Governance

The hospital is formally part of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA), created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1994,[8] and transitioned from the Denver Department of Health and Hospitals to an independent authority in 1997.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11]

See also

References

External links

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