Peak to Peak. Facilities will be available to serve as medical shelters to increase ICU bed availability. The Colorado state Unified Command Group (UCG) has completed leases on three more sites that will be able to serve as alternative care facilities so that hospitals can more quickly open up critical bed space if there is a surge in critical COVID-19 cases in Colorado. This brings the total number of alternative care facilities secured across Colorado to five. 

The UCG completed leases on these three new medical shelter sites:

St. Anthony North in Westminster

St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center in Pueblo

Western Slope Memory Care in Grand Junction.

These sites were previously medical facilities and thus have resources that enable care for higher acuity patients than Tier 3 sites. (See explanation of the Tiers below.)

The UCG is working with the Colorado Hospital Association, local communities and the US Army Corps of Engineers to select and prepare alternative care sites throughout the State that can be repurposed to provide medical care for patients who have stabilized in-hospital and no longer require critical care. Alternative care sites serve as medical shelters and are not field hospitals.

It is important for the public to know that the alternative care sites will only accept patients who are being transferred from hospitals and health care facilities - the sites will not be open for members of the public seeking medical care or diagnosis. 

How the medical surge system works. Individuals showing signs of illness should seek guidance by calling their primary care physician, a nurse care line or community health center.  If an individual is having difficulty breathing, and they suspect COVID-19, they should seek urgent care at a hospital-based emergency department. Triage will determine which care setting is appropriate.

Patients with critical needs are admitted into a critical care setting (ICU or medical nursing unit) - this is considered Tier 1 care.

As patients within a hospital recover, they may be transferred by a fleet of state-managed ambulances to an ambulatory surgical center, free-standing emergency department, or critical access hospital -- all which can provide acute care to COVID-19 patients whose needs fall below critical care. This is considered Tier 2 care. A state dispatch center will manage these patient transfers among facilities.

As further recovery ensues, healing patients may be transferred by the state-managed ambulance fleet to alternative care sites that have been created by the state, by hospitals and/or by state/local partnerships with public health and emergency management. This is considered Tier 3 care. Alternative Care Sites are medical shelters. They are not hospitals. 

Patients who are ready to return home but who can’t because of extenuating circumstances or because they need to quarantine in order to protect others, may be transferred by non-EMS to a hotel that has been converted to a medical shelter.  This is Tier 4 care.

Confirmed Alternative Care Sites. Tier 3 care facilities will have resources and staff capable of caring for patients who are recovering from COVID-19 who no longer need a critical or acute level of care.  Tier 2.5 care facilities are former medical facilities that have resources that enable them to care for higher acuity patients than Tier 3 care facilities, but which are not currently operating as a surgical center, free-standing emergency department, or critical access hospital. 

St. Anthony’s North

Location: Westminster (Adams County)

Tier 2.5 Facility

Bed Capacity: 88

Lease signed: April 7, 2020.

Construction start date: April 11, 2020.

Construction finish date: May 8, 2020.

St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center 

Location: Pueblo 

Tier 2.5 Facility

Bed Capacity: 120

Lease signed: April 7, 2020.

Construction start date: April 11, 2020.

Construction finish date: May 8, 2020.

Western Slope Memory Care 

Location: Grand Junction (Mesa County)

Tier 2.5 Facility

Bed Capacity: 50

Lease signed: April 10, 2020.

Construction start date: TBD

Construction finish date: Target = May 8, 2020.

Denver Convention Center

Location: Denver County

Tier 3 Facility

Bed Capacity: 2,000

Lease Signed: April 5, 2020.

Construction Start Date: April 7, 2020.

Construction Finish Date: April 27, 2020.

The Ranch, Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Complex

Location: Loveland (Larimer County)

Tier 3 Facility

Bed Capacity: 1,060

Lease Signed: April 7, 2020.

Construction Start Date: April 9, 2020.

Construction Finish Date: April 29, 2020.