Located 90 miles northwest of Denver and just a few minutes east of the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park is the community of Estes Park, Colorado. Estes Park has a long rich history spanning from Joel Estes’s discovery of the Estes Valley in 1859, to the opening of the Stanley hotel in 1909, and the dedication of the Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915.
As a popular resort destination, Estes Park is home to nearly 12,000 residents and welcomes over three million visitors a year. With an abundance of birds and wildlife, rugged mountain grandeur, quaint shops and a bustling main street – Estes Park is a year-round attraction destination.
Serving the community and large tourist population, the Estes Park Medical Center (EPMC) is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital and Level IV Trauma Center. Promoting wellness and providing the highest quality of healthcare, EPMC also includes a 60-bed skilled nursing facility and specialty clinic. In addition, EPMC partners closely Timberline Clinic and Salud Family Health Center located in Estes Park.
In September last year, heavy rains washed out two of the three roads into Estes Park, leaving EPMC isolated and without an easy route to transport some patients needing advanced care, down the mountain to an urban hospital. For more on this story, check out the article by Eric Whitney, After the Floods, Colorado Hospital Braces for Winter.
As a member of the Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC), EPMC engages in a variety of programs and services. Most notable is the hospital’s involvement in the Improving Communications and Readmissions (iCARE) program. The goal of iCARE is to help Colorado’s Critical Access Hospitals reduce avoidable readmission rates and improve communications in transitions of care.
EPMC also participates in the Small Rural Hospital Improvement (SHIP) program, which supports quality improvement and meaningful use of health information technology. In addition, the clinic has been involved with Healthy Clinic Assessments (HCAs). HCAs are an evaluation process on the day-to-day operations of the clinic – a snapshot of the clinic’s internal processes and staff interaction. The goal of Healthy Clinic Assessments is to streamline the operational workflow and the policies and procedures of a clinic, in order to maximize efficiency and create a seamless and positive patient experience.
The Colorado Rural Health Center also offers a wide variety of educational workshops and webinars, which EPMC has utilized, in addition to many resources to assist them with their implementation of Health Information Technology (HIT) solutions.
The Colorado Rural Health Center is proud to recognize Estes Park Medical Center as this month’s featured member of the month. To learn more about EPMC visit their website or connect with them on Facebook.
