City: Denver, CO

Category: Health Care

Telephone: (303) 436-6000

Address: 777 Bannock St.

Description: This is Colorado’s largest public hospital, operated by Denver Health, which also runs Community Health Services, the Rocky Mountain Poison Center, and Denver CARES Community Detoxification. The medical center includes 398 staffed beds for a range of inpatient medical and behavioral health services. The center runs the Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center—the region’s only Level I trauma center certified for both children and adults. It also operates Denver’s 911 emergency system, paramedic services, and one of the nation’s most competitive emergency medicine residency programs. To a large extent, DHMC is the safety net for Denver residents regardless of their social or economic status. Nearly half of all charges for inpatient and outpatient services come from people without health insurance, and more than a third are from people covered by Medicaid and Medicare. DHMC also emphasizes adolescent and adult inpatient psychiatry and handles some 3,000 childbirths a year. DHMC’s Rocky Mountain Regional Trauma Center serves the entire Rocky Mountain region. With more than 3,000 trauma patients annually, it is the busiest Level I trauma center in the area. Denver Health also operates 10 health centers throughout Denver and 10 student health clinics in Denver Public Schools. Denver Public Health monitors communicable diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, measles, and hepatitis. It operates several outpatient clinics for diagnosis and treatment of these and many other diseases. Through its Environmental Health Division, Public Health provides a wide range of nonclinical services such as air and water pollution monitoring, restaurant inspections, licensing for day-­care facilities and personal boarding-­care homes, and operation of the Denver Municipal Animal Shelter.