DENVER – Three more sites have been leased by the Colorado Unified Command Group (UCG) to serve as alternative care facilities during the COVID-19 outbreak in the state to protect hospital bed space for critical care patients.
The three sites will be “Tier 2.5” facilities – above the Tier 3 facilities at the Denver Convention Center and The Ranch complex in Larimer County – and will be used to treat higher-acuity patients than those at the Tier 3 facilities.
The state says Tier 2.5 facilities are medical facilities that are not freestanding surgical centers, emergency departments or critical access hospitals.
The new facilities leased by the UCG are St. Anthony’s North in Westminster; St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo; and Western Slope Memory Care in Grand Junction.
The St. Anthony’s North site will have an 88-bed capacity. Construction started there April 11 and is expected to be finished by May 8.
The Pueblo facility will have a 120-bed capacity and has the same construction start and finish dates as the Westminster facility.
The Western Slope Memory Care site in Grand Junction will house 50 beds. Construction has not yet started there but officials hope to finish construction by May 8 as well.
Construction is already underway at the Convention Center and The Ranch. The state hopes to have construction finished at both sites by the end of April.
Under the planned tiered system in Colorado, patients needing critical care would go to a Tier 1 facility that provides intensive care or a medical nursing unit. As they recover, they will be transferred to a Tier 2 facility like an ambulatory surgical center, freestanding emergency department or critical access hospital.
As the person continues to recover, they would be sent to either a Tier 2.5 or Tier 3 facility for less-intensive care from doctors and nurses. Tier 4 facilities would be used for people who can’t return home because of their housing situation or because they need to quarantine.
