Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital Welcomed First Patients August 3 at New Campus

Saturday morning saw 159 patients at the Intermountain Health Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

But by the end of the day, the rooms at the old facility were empty and hallways quiet. A conference room about 3.5 miles away at the new Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital however was filled with cheering caregivers as the new hospital officially celebrated its first day of operation.

Saturday, Aug. 3, was the historic Move Day caregivers carefully planned for more than two years.

Intermountain Health Lutheran Medical Center, which has operated for over a century, officially closed its doors at 6 am. For the next eight hours and 15 minutes, patients were safely discharged home or transported by ambulance to the new Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital that also opened at 6 am.

Hospital planning teams gathered on Saturday at 3 am in conference rooms at both hospitals to count the number of inpatients and review the health status of patients and monitor their transfer to the new hospital or discharge home.

Then they got to work coordinating patient departures. Throughout the day, about 20 ambulances with EMS crews circulated back and forth between the hospitals.

Kathy Crabtree, chief medical officer for Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital, said the day was hectic, as expected, but overall, very successful in safely moving patients.

“Our caregivers were amazing and worked so hard to coordinate a safe transfer of patients from the old campus to the new hospital,” she said. “We couldn’t have done it without this collaborative effort. We’re really proud and grateful to our entire team.”

Heidi Boyd, RN, charge nurse for the progressive care unit, worked long hours during the days leading up to the move talking with patients and their families about the move. She spent Saturday at the existing hospital and helped move 19 patients.

“I think we’re all super excited to have a brand-new hospital, and the patients are, as well. But there’s those nerves. This building has been here forever. A lot of us have worked here for several years so, it’s bittersweet,” said Boyd who has worked at Lutheran Medical Center for 10 years.

Lutheran Hospital hospitalist and site medical director Ritika Patel, MD, was one of the leaders working in the command center, coordinating the flow of traffic and informing physicians when their patients would be transported.

Part of that work involved making sure each patient’s care team transferred over to the new hospital with that patient.

“If they cared for them in the existing hospital, they will care for them in the new hospital,” she said.

Because the number of caregivers at each hospital was balanced at midday, that’s when they planned to transfer the patients who were most critically ill.

“It feels pretty nostalgic, emotional,” said Dr. Patel, who came to work at Lutheran Medical Center after her residency training. “I feel like I have grown up here as a physician. Walking through or past the floors and talking to some of the nurses who’ve been here as long as I have, and we all remember that room. Some units hit home hard.”

Dr. Crabtree began her day at the command center in the new hospital, and it was there when caregivers announced the final patient transport was complete.

“Lots of mixed emotions today. Our old hospital has had so many memories for me. I’ve spent much of my career there and it has been such an important part of our community’s history, that I’m sad to see it go. However, I’m really excited for our new hospital, which has been designed to enable us to provide the best care possible, and the promise it holds for our community as a place of healing,” she said.

With that, begins the next chapter of the history of healthcare for the community.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.