SCL Health Lutheran Medical Center has served the Wheat Ridge and surrounding communities for more than 100 years. It has evolved from humble beginnings as a tuberculosis sanitarium into one of the best hospitals in the country, including its new Level II trauma designation. Careful analysis of the community's future healthcare needs shows demand for a more flexible and patient-centered hospital that delivers high-quality, advanced care more efficiently.

Maximizing this once-in-a-generation opportunity, residents have asked SCL Health to build the "hospital of the future" in Wheat Ridge. SCL Health's board of directors has approved a Lutheran Medical Center replacement at the Clear Creek Crossing development on a 26-acre parcel at I-70 and 40th Avenue, approximately 3.5 miles from the existing campus.

SCL Health leadership did a thorough cost-benefit review. It determined it made the most sense to construct a new replacement hospital rather than attempt to stay on its current campus and modernize all of the existing medical center's facilities.

The new SCL Health Lutheran Medical Center (replacement) hospital will:

• Expand access to emergency and critical care for families up and down the Jefferson County and West Denver suburbs, with easy and quick access from I-70, Hwy. 93, and U.S. 6/Sixth Avenue.
• Elevate health care in the region with a well-designed, efficient, and flexible facility designed with the patient and staff top of mind. All rooms will have the ability to be converted to ICU standards if needed.
• Provide new and distinct particular areas in the hospital to find respite - including a beautiful new atrium where patients and caregivers can find peace.
• Be one of the most energy-efficient facilities in the region.
• Be the most staff-efficient facility in the region. We've looked at workplace efficiencies with a decentralized design so nurses are closer to the bedside. Each unit is also designed with a focus on keeping volume and noises down. These 16-bed units have distributed nursing stations - focused on keeping volume and noises down. Each unit has four beds.
• Provide more comfort for patients and families, with all rooms being more significant and brighter with floor-to-ceiling glass, making for more natural light in the room.
• Help drive economic growth in Jefferson County and West Denver, employing 2,000 people in well-paying jobs and contributing more than $1.1 billion in annual local economic impact. Lutheran remains Wheat Ridge's largest employer.

The move to the I-70 corridor will expand access to life-saving emergency care in the areas of:

• Trauma
• Stroke
• Heart Attack
• Neurosurgery
• Interventional neurology
• Neuroscience critical care

SCL Health Lutheran Medical Center will stop acute hospital operations at its current site once the replacement facility is open. SCL Health will maintain its hospice program at the existing campus; the majority of the rest of the land will likely be redeveloped.

SCL Health and the City of Wheat Ridge partnered with a consultant to undertake a master planning process earlier this year to ensure a well-defined, coordinated redevelopment strategy.

After extensive community input and public meetings, final approval was given in October for the Lutheran Legacy Campus master plan. The master plan was designed with flexibility, to help to establish a long-range vision for the site, and it will guide how the property can be reused in the future.