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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 3, 2003
CONTACT Jeanne-Marie Ragan
Public Information Officer
Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division
(303) 692-2887
Improved Access to Nursing Home, Hospital and Trauma Information Available
DENVER - The Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced Friday three Internet addresses that quickly access the division’s Internet sites, enabling easier consumer access to information on long-term care and other health care facilities, prehospital emergency services and the state trauma care system.
Douglas H. Benevento, the department’s executive director, said, “For those trying to select the right health facility or service, the extensive information maintained at this Internet site can be very helpful in making such difficult but vitally important decisions.” He emphasized that family members and friends should be fully informed when they are making health care choices for a loved one. He said consumers can find valuable information on any facility type that the division regulates, including nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, hospice programs, group homes for the developmentally disabled, ambulatory surgical centers, adult day programs, dialysis centers and community clinics.
The division conducts annual health surveys in nursing homes, and results of those inspections are available at this Internet site. Complaint investigation and occurrence summary reports are also available for every facility type.
In addition to health facility information, consumers can quickly locate the division’s Emergency Medical Services Prehospital Care Program at www.coEMS.info, and find information on the Emergency Medical Services Trauma Program at www.coTrauma.info.
According to Benevento, “The Prehospital Care Program and the Trauma Program are dedicated to strengthening the emergency medical and trauma care system in our state. Their mission is to reduce the number of deaths and limit disabilities that result from injury and illness.”
The Prehospital Care Program promotes available, coordinated and quality prehospital care systems in Colorado by focusing on the coordination and development of care provided to sick and injured persons before they reach the hospital. This includes grants to local providers of emergency care for maintenance and upgrades to their systems, technical assistance, and oversight of the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program and the Colorado Advance Directives Program.
The Trauma Program monitors the current trauma system, establishes system standards, designates hospitals and other health care facilities as trauma centers and uses trauma registry data to suggest improvements in the trauma system, thereby helping to assure that people who are seriously injured in Colorado receive rapid and appropriate care.
Benevento said that the program also designates all the levels of trauma care provided in the state. Hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities participate in an extensive review before being designated as a Level I, II, III or IV trauma center, with the Level I hospital equipped to provide the state’s most comprehensive trauma care.
The division is located at 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, and consumers can contact the division by calling (303) 692-2800, toll free 1-800-886-7689, extension 2800.
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