GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado ” From any room in the new Acute Care Unit at Valley View Hospital, it’s easy to see how the hospital got its name: Valley View.

“There isn’t a room that doesn’t have a good view,” said Marty Gaither, director of Respiratory Care, as he stood in one of the newly constructed family-centered rooms on the fourth floor. “Being in the valley, surrounded by mountains, and being on the fourth floor, you’re going to have a good view from any room.”

Gaither was just one of Valley View’s hospital staff who welcomed community members to take a tour of the newly constructed ACU Thursday evening.

Staff members gave tours for those who attended, giving each person a firsthand look at the future of Valley View Hospital.

“This is the general care unit, for people who come here with the flu, or pneumonia, or if they’ve broken a leg,” Gaither said.

And, it’s not a bad place to end up if you’re laid up.

The new ACU is 25,000 square feet of space with 33 private patient rooms and three larger family-centered rooms that are literally large enough for an entire family. The rooms are decorated to improve the patients’ experience. The equipment around the beds is contained in dark wood cupboards and bookcaselike molding, giving the room a library feel. Much of the floor feels more like a mountain resort retreat than a hospital. Six of the rooms even have hologram fireplaces.

The new ACU unit also has three family rooms, one in each wing, to provide families adequate and comfortable space to relax while they are visiting patients at the hospital. And to provide families with more comforts of home during their stay at the hospital, there is a full kitchen with oven, microwave and refrigerator in which to prepare their own meals, and a family dining room to eat their feast if they don’t feel like ordering from the hospital’s kitchen.

The entire area has one main nurses’ station and six substations throughout the unit. Each of the patient rooms has a flat-panel television, wireless Internet access and available room service dining. The ACU is expected to officially open on Oct. 27.

The aspect that hospital staff like Gaither like the best is that all the resources for Acute Care are now in one place, instead of being on two separate floors as it was before.

“Now we don’t have to go from there to here when we need to see this patient,” Gaither said. “Now we’re all right here and that is really nice.”

Contact John Gardner: 384-9114

jgardner@postindependent.com

Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO