Colorado hospitals reinvent outdoor healing environments

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado

by Russ Sedmak, RA, SLAM Denver

For more than a decade, health care organizations have reinvented themselves as places of healing, health and wellness as opposed to traditional clinical institutions. In that same timeframe, we have recognized the benefits of healthy buildings for not only Colorado communities at large, but for their occupants.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have blurred the line between indoor and outdoor spaces for work and play, and in the process, renewing our senses and appreciation of the natural world. Where better to experience the healing power of nature than in Colorado?

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR) in Loveland, Colo., exemplifies this experience. It is a hospital within a hospital, incorporating both a trauma center and heart center when it opened on Valentine’s Day 2007. As a Level II Regional Trauma Center, MCR is designed for speed of care and ease of movement, which saves lives every day. It also is a place of healing, combining world-class acute care services and technology, with green architecture, natural landscapes, and outdoor healing gardens.

Read more via the online article at Building Dialogue.

Reprinted with Permission of Building Dialogue, a Colorado Real Estate Journal publication. View the full September 2021 issue.

Russell Sedmak