Metro North Offers World-Renowned Hospitals
Published Apr 17, 2008
Platte Valley Medical Center
When Metro North residents need medical care, a healthy dose is on hand at world-class hospitals and clinics.
Making headlines in 2007 was Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, which moved into spacious new digs on a 50-acre campus in July. The $138 million regional facility just west of Interstate 76 is home to some of the most sophisticated medical-imaging equipment available. In fact, the hospital is the first in the United States to install Toshiba’s latest magnetic resonance imaging system.
North Suburban Medical Center’s Musculoskeletal Surgery Center in Thornton has also been in the spotlight for its ground-breaking spinal disc-replacement surgery, which uses one of just two devices approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. The ProDisc-L implant offers patients a better range of lumbar-spine motion, less pain and a quicker recovery.
“Not only does this device and surgical alternative hold great promise in significantly reducing spinal disorders and back pain, it also has the potential to significantly improve the patients’ flexibility, unlike spinal fusion,” says Dr. Michael E. Janssen, one of the lead investigators for the implant.
When it comes to emergency care, St. Anthony North Hospital is a regional leader. “We’re one of the busier emergency rooms in the entire Denver region, with over 42,000 ER visits per year,” says Jim Dover, the hospital’s CEO.
In May 2006, the hospital completed a $7.2 million ER renovation and expansion that allowed the hospital to reduce by half its divert time – the amount of time when ambulances must be diverted to other hospitals because the ER is backlogged.
For health care of a less dire variety, many residents turn to Rocky Mountain Urgent Care, which opened its sixth clinic in the Denver area in late 2007. Two of those clinics are in the Metro North Region, in Westminster and Commerce City. Founded by Dr. Nathaniel J. Moore in 2003, Rocky Mountain Urgent Care clinics are staffed with board-certified family medicine and pediatric physicians, and there is always a physician on site, according to Kelly Moynan, the community outreach director. She describes the clinics as an alternative to the ER. “We want to see you only if you can’t get into your doctor,” she says. The clinics fax chart notes to a patient’s primary-care doctor to ensure appropriate follow-up.
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Michael W. Bunch
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