ICU Personalized Care, Rooted in the Rockies

ICU

Salida Hospital District

HRRMC's Intensive Critical Care Department provides a professional, personalized environment to all patients and their support systems. Our specially trained physicians and nurses focus on the comprehensive care of critically ill adult patients.

Patient-care conditions in the ICU sometimes change, so visiting hours must be at the discretion of the nursing staff. However, ICU visiting hours are generally 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

When does a patient need intensive care?

There are numerous circumstances that can warrant a patient’s need for critical care. Patients with severe injuries, such as head trauma, are usually admitted to the ICU so they can receive urgent treatment as needed. Other admittances include patients recovering from extensive surgery and other issues that require close monitoring.

When a doctor advises that a patient be moved out of ICU, it means their condition has improved. The time it takes for this to happen varies from patient to patient. Rest assured that in most circumstances being released from the ICU is a step in the right direction. If the patient needs further care, they will still have access to quality medical attention; the primary difference is that they no longer require constant observation.

ICU Enhancements

The intensive care unit receives a critical ventilation system upgrade

HRRMC recently completed an upgrade to its ICU by creating patient rooms that function with a ventilation system known as negative pressure. Negative pressure rooms support infection control and isolation for patients who have highly contagious airborne illnesses including COVID, tuberculosis, SARS and MERS. This system, beneficial to both patients and staff, has become the standard of care in hospitals nationwide.

In a negative pressure room, the air pressure inside the room is lower than the air pressure outside the room, trapping pathogens inside. When the door, or anteroom opens, non-contaminated, filtered air flows into the negative pressure room. Highly filtered exhaust systems then draw the contaminated air out of the room, cleaning the air of harmful particles.

A grant was awarded to the HRRMC Foundation by the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) in 2021, which covered more than 50 percent of the total project expense. The system upgrade was completed this past December within a two-week window in order to minimize disruption to patient care services in the ICU.

In addition to its two ICU rooms, HRRMC also has an adjacent inpatient room outfitted with negative pressure functionality. The adjacent room will support ICU overflow, as well as isolation of a non-ICU patient. Each of the negative pressure rooms has its own bathroom, helping to further mitigate the risk of exposure for staff and other patients.