Healthcare
Parker has the benefit of two new hospitals located in our area. Parker Adventist Hospital and Sky Ridge Medical Center greatly expand the nearby services available to our community.

Parker Adventist Hospital
The first, Parker Adventist Hospital, was built by Centura Health. This impressive $100 million hospital encompasses the best of healthcare from around the world and sits on a 40-acre campus at the southeast corner of South Parker Road and E-470 in Parker. Featuring a Level III trauma center, full-service surgical suites, full diagnostic, imaging and cardiac services, among other features, the hospital opened in February 2004.

Flexible intensive care units, corridor designs, bed arrangements and other features help eliminate recent problems that many metro Denver hospitals encounter having to divert patients elsewhere.

Large, 240-square-foot patient rooms with mountain views provide space for patients, their families and caregivers. A therapeutic courtyard and outdoor dining overlooking a pond provide a healing environment.

Some of the 250 to 300 employees initially hired by Centura Health were cross-trained to operate in a more flexible environment where patients won't have to be moved from one location to another.

The hospital will have an adjoining 80,000-square-foot medical office building. Parker Adventist will easily expand to 200 beds in a second phase. Hospital officials envision 417 beds in four or five decades as they plan to provide healthcare services for Parker, Aurora, Elizabeth, Franktown, Castle Rock, and other communities southeast of Denver.


The expansion of the hospital's rehabilitation areas and patient rooms came much sooner than hospital officials expected.

Ken Bacon, chief executive officer for Parker Adventist, said he anticipated the expansion to occur two to three years after the grand opening of the hospital in February 2004.


"We knew we would have to add on so we shelled in some space to add 30 to 35 beds," Bacon said. "We have the ability to be more flexible and it enables us to grow with the community."


The second floor unit has 27 new medical and surgical beds, eight intensive care beds and one operating room to supplement the 58 beds already in place at the hospital. Construction began in February to accommodate the $7.5 million expansion to the patient care unit.


"It was driven by the patient demand. We had an increasing number of days recently where we found the hospital full in the acute care areas," said Brian Moore, chief operating officer for the hospital. "We wanted to be responsive to that need."


The new floor separates surgical patients from medical patients and includes a specialty unit called the Chest Pain Center. An outpatient rehabilitation suite, which offers occupational, speech, physical and hand therapies, opened earlier this year.


The staff will continue to grow when Parker Adventist enters a new phase of expansion in five to ten years. Approximately 100 beds will be added when the hospital's board of directors authorizes the construction of another wing.


"We looked at the long-term picture and assumed that we will need about 200 beds," Bacon said. "The building will probably go up another three floors, and in the near future we are looking at another wing."


The opening of the second floor increases the number of inpatient rooms to 100.


"It will give us more flexibility during volume spikes that occur during things like flu season," Moore said. "It will allow us to accommodate those variances."


The hospital is part of Centura Health, which operates 20 medical facilities, including 12 hospitals, in Colorado.

Contact Chris Michlewicz at cmichlewicz@ccnewspapers.net









Sky Ridge Medical Center
HealthONE has built a $147 million, seven-story hospital on 42.5 acres on the southwest corner of I-25 and Lincoln Avenue, just west of Parker. Sky Ridge Medical Center provides much-needed services in the fastest growing county in the state.

The upscale full-service hospital houses full-range surgical suites, obstetrical services and a Level II nursery, a cancer center, and a Level III ER/Trauma Department with a helipad.

Initially housing 106 beds, the hospital will be capable of eventually expanding to 335 beds.

Centennial Medical Plaza
Expansion of HealthONE's Centennial Medical Plaza, located on the southwest corner of Arapahoe Road and Jordan Road, added to the number of emergency room and short-term stays beds and expanded the radiology and laboratory services available to members of the Parker community.


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