Denver Health Medical Center, formerly named Denver General Hospital, is a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, founded in 1860. It is one of five Level I Trauma Centers in Colorado. Denver Health Medical Center is one of the primary teaching hospitals in Denver and is affiliated with the

University of Colorado School of Medicine The University of Colorado School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Colorado system. It is located at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, one of the four University of Colorado campuses, six miles east of downtown ...

History

Denver Health Medical Center was established in 1860 as City Hospital. 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 Medical Center is located to this day. Denver Health Medical Center has gone by many names including City Hospital, the Poor House, County Hospital, Arapahoe County Hospital, Denver General Hospital in 1923, and now Denver Health Medical Center in 1997. 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 Florence Rena Sabin (November 9, 1871 – October 3, 1953) was an American medical scientist. She was a pioneer for women in science; she was the first woman to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the first woman el ...

who was instrumental in creating a functional Public Health department. In 1989, a book was written about the Denver General

emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

, ''The Knife and Gun Club, Scenes from an Emergency Room'' by photographer

Eugene Richards Eugene Richards (born 1944) is an American documentary photographer living in Brooklyn, New York. He has published many books of photography and has been a member of Magnum Photos and of VII Photo Agency. He was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. ...

which received an Award of Excellence from the American College of

Emergency Physician An emergency physician (often called an "ER doctor" in the United States) is a physician who works at an emergency department to care for ill patients. The emergency physician is a specialist in advanced cardiac life support (advanced life suppo ...

s. The book is a collection of stories taken from the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

and ambulances. The emergency room of Denver Health Medical Center gained the nickname "Knife and Gun Club" due to the frequency of knife and gun related injuries.

Governance

Denver Health Medical Center is part of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority, abbreviated to Denver Health, 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 In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agency, government agencies, and involving the punishment, ...

care, and medical response to

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, mass casualties and

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

s. The Authority is governed by an eleven-member Board of Directors who are appointed for five years by the

Mayor of Denver This is a list of mayors of Denver, the capital and largest city of the state of Colorado. Mayors of Denver can serve three four-year terms.https://www.westword.com/news/denver-term-limit-mayor-colorado-voters-15109617 List References {{ ...

and confirmed by the

Denver City Council The Denver City Council is the legislative branch of government for the City and County of Denver, Colorado. The council is made up of thirteen elected officials from eleven City and county designated districts and two at-large elected members. A ...

. Denver Health's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

is Donna Lynne, DrPH. The hospital was previously a component of the Denver government under the Denver Department of Health and Hospitals.AN ACT Concerning the creation of the Denver health and hospital authority
. Session Laws of Colorado, 1994, chapter 126, approved April 19, 1994. Codified at

Colorado Revised Statutes The ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.) are a legal code of Colorado, the codified general and permanent statutes of the Colorado General Assembly. Publication The ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' are revised and published by the Revisor of ...

(C.R.S.) §§ 25-29-101 et seq. Challenges encountered from this model of governance included a lack of purchasing authority, a lack of centralized governance, and a history of budget deficits. The Authority was created by the

Colorado General Assembly The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in the ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.). The ses ...

in 1994 as a political subdivision of the state. On January 1, 1997, the hospital and health system were transferred from Denver Department of Health and Hospitals to the Authority. Denver Health's successful governance change inspired

Alameda County Medical Center Alameda Health System (AHS), formerly Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC), is an Integrated delivery system, integrated public Integrated delivery system, health care system organized as a public hospital authority. Formerly operated by Alameda C ...

's change to a hospital authority separate from the county.

Organization

Denver Health provides communicable disease surveillance and medically oriented public health functions through their Denver Public Health department. Through grant-funded programs, Denver Public Health conducts research on infectious diseases, including hepatitis surveillance; tuberculosis clinical trials; HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling, testing and treatment; and vaccine trials. The Denver Department of Environmental Health, a Denver government agency, manages and oversees the operating agreement to contract with Denver Health 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. Denver Department of Environmental Health 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 Denver Department of Environmental Health. Denver Health's

Denver Health Paramedic Division Denver Health Paramedic Division is a public, hospital-based paramedic service based at Denver Health Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. Denver Health Paramedics are contracted to provide the 911 medical services to The C ...

, a hospital based

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

service, is based out of Denver Health Medical Center.

References

External links

Denver Health
{{authority control Hospitals in Colorado Buildings and structures in Denver Hospitals established in 1860 Hospital buildings completed in 1873 1860 establishments in Kansas Territory University of Colorado Denver Trauma centers

History

Governance

Organization

See also

References

External links