PVH opens new wing, adds progressive care unit

FORT COLLINS — UCHealth has opened a renovated wing at Poudre Valley Hospital that includes two units, one of which is new to the hospital. 

The 14,109-square-foot space on the fourth floor includes a cardiac unit and a progressive care unit. 

“Both of these units were thoughtfully designed to provide enhanced patient care and an exceptional patient experience,” PVH chief nursing officer Julie Nunley said in a written statement. “Every room features advanced technology that will also provide an additional layer of safety for our patients.” 

The 12-room progressive care unit is a new unit for PVH. It is considered a step between medical/surgical units and the intensive care units. The unit’s nurses will care for patients “coming up” the acuity scale, possibly to move on to intensive care, as well as others “coming down” from an ICU on their way to a medical/surgical room. Many of these patients need a little more monitoring and the specialized skills of a critical care team than the patients on the medical/surgical unit. 

The 12-room cardiac unit, previously on the fifth floor, occupies the other half of the renovated wing. The new home for cardiac care complements the hospital’s cardiac services, which includes a new second cardiac catheterization lab that opened on the first floor earlier. The second cath lab has boosted the hospital’s capacity to treat patients with emergencies such as heart attacks when immediate care is needed to diagnose and clear blocked arteries. It also has enabled UCHealth to offer certain electrophysiology procedures in Fort Collins for the first time.  

Both units will be connected to the UCHealth Virtual Health Center in metro Denver, which monitors patients’ status remotely and analyzes vital signs and other data to detect potential complications. 

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