Denver Health Medical Center

Denver Health operates the Denver Health Medical Center, a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, founded in 1860. It is one of five 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, Children's Hospital Colorado, and the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Denver Health's CEO is Robin D. Wittenstein, Ed.D., FACHE.[2]

Denver Health
Denver Health and Hospital Authority
Geography
Location777 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado, United States
Coordinates39.7281°N 104.9911°W / 39.7281; -104.9911
Organization
FundingPublic hospital
TypeGeneral
Affiliated universityUniversity of Colorado School of Medicine
Services
Emergency departmentLevel I trauma center
Beds525
Helipads
HelipadFAA LID: CO35
Number Length Surface
ft m
H1 42 x 40 13 × 12 Concrete
H2 40 x 40 12 × 12 Concrete
History
Opened1860
Links
Websitedenverhealth.org
ListsHospitals in Colorado

Organization

The Denver Health and Hospital Authority is an integrated health care system that consisting of a main hospital, 911 response and EMS, poison and toxicology, family health centers, school-based clinics, detoxification services, correctional care, and 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 grant-funded programs, DPH conducts research on infectious diseases, including hepatitis surveillance; tuberculosis clinical trials; HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling, testing and treatment; and vaccine trials.

DHHA's Denver Health Paramedic Division, a hospital based paramedic service, is based out of Denver Health.[3]

Governance

The health system is named Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA), created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1994,[4] and transitioned from the Denver Department of Health and Hospitals to an independent authority in 1997.[5] 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.[6]

History

Denver General was established in 1860. The hospital was 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.[7]

In 1989 a book was written about The Denver General emergency room, 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 department and ambulances.[8] The emergency room of Denver Health gained the nickname "Knife and Gun Club" due to the frequency of knife and gun related injuries.[9]

As a component of Denver government, challenges included a lack of purchasing authority, a lack of centralized governance, and a history of budget deficits.[10] On January 1, 1997, Denver General became a political subdivision of the state, and was renamed Denver Health and Hospital Authority. Denver Health's successful governance change inspired Alameda County Medical Center's change to a hospital authority separate from the county.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Designated trauma centers". Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  2. "Leadership". www.denverhealth.org. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  3. "Home". Denver Health Paramedic Division. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  4. AN ACT Concerning the creation of the Denver health and hospital authority Archived 2014-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Session Laws of Colorado, 1994, chapter 126, approved April 19, 1994. Codified at Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) §§ 25-29-101 et seq.
  5. "Denver Health : 150 Years of Level One Care for All" (PDF). Denverhealth.org. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  6. C.R.S. § 25-29-103
  7. "Colorado's Mother of Public Health". Fairmount Heritage Foundation. March 4, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  8. "Eugene Richards - Biography". SudEst57. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
  9. Niskanen, Tristan (August 13, 2018). "Linda Collison Is Locked and Loaded With Knife & Gun Club". Westword. Retrieved June 7, 2020. The title of the series pays homage to the emergency room at Denver General, now Denver Health, affectionately known as the "knife and gun club" because of the large volume of patients who came in with gun- and knife-related injuries.
  10. Salmon, Kurt (May 11, 2009). "Governance Models Among California Public Hospitals". California Health Care Foundation. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
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