You may have assumed the Future of Health Care blog was dead after no new posts in more than two months. Two months, after all, is ancient history online. The fact is, this is a quiet time for Memorial. The City of Colorado Springs is negotiating a lease with University of Colorado Health to operate Memorial, pending [...]

Dr. Chris Wehr, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Memorial, deftly places the instrument on a part of the beating heart. “Burning,” he calls out. The man at the machine announces when it has been 30 seconds. They test to make sure the burn worked, then repeat this process down the side of the heart. Just minutes earlier, another physician, [...]

For the parent of a critically ill or injured child, leaving the bedside to go Christmas shopping isn’t exactly an option. That’s why Memorial Hospital for Children brings the shopping to them. Memorial has created a store – quite literally – on its pediatric floor. Parents can pick out toys for their children, free of charge. The [...]

Maria Rangel received an early Christmas present on Friday when her infant son Jacob was cleared to go home after an extended stay in Memorial’s NICU. Jacob was supposed to be born mid-January, but he arrived Dec. 5 at just 4 pounds, 2 ounces. After weeks in the hospital, he was gearing up Friday for the [...]

Memorial has been a leader in breast care, from our early adoption of the breast nurse navigator program to our dedicated mammography radiologists. Now our commitment to this important area of care has received an official seal of approval. The nation’s top accrediting body for breast care centers has added Memorial Health System to its [...]

Cancer patients in the Pikes Peak region will have better access to the latest cancer treatments and research, and there will be new educational opportunities for local physicians under a new partnership between Memorial and the University of Colorado Cancer Center. From the Gazette. “The benefits are extraordinary,” said Dr. Dax Kurbegov, Memorial’s director of oncology. [...]

Each year Colorado Springs Style magazine publishes a list of top docs. This year, 13 Memorial-employed docs made the list. The docs are chosen by about 1,500 fellow physicians from across the region who are surveyed. While many of us at at Memorial see and hear about the great work of our physicians all the time, it [...]

There’s a lot of excitement in the halls of Memorial lately after a glowing survey by The Joint Commission, the top accrediting body for hospitals. Sure, some of that excitement is in making the grade. But just as much of the buzz is about the praise Memorial received for its preparation. Surveyors made it clear that Memorial [...]

Memorial may be best known in the community for its clinical programs and bedside care, but besides our nurses, physicians and other staff there is an army of hundreds of volunteers working daily. Some 800 people contribute their time to Memorial to help patients and families find their way, staff information desks, give tours, and more. They fill [...]

As patients, and even health care providers, we tend to think of top-tier medical care in terms of technology and training. The best schooling, the most experience and the most expensive equipment amounts to the best care, so the thinking goes. Of course all those things are important, but is our faith misplaced? A growing body [...]