City: Boulder, CO

Category: Health Care

Telephone: (303) 440-2273 (general)

Address: 1100 Balsam Street

Description: With 265 beds, Community is the largest full-service hospital in Boulder County. It takes pride in its emergency, maternity, cancer (full radiation service), and open-heart surgery centers, among other specialties. It emphasizes high-quality and family-centered care. According to the Colorado Hospital Association’s data, Community has one of the state’s best records for successful inpatient care, short length of stay, and low-cost service.The care is first-rate here, and the atmosphere tends toward the friendly and relaxed. Labor and delivery rooms might include old-fashioned rocking chairs and other homey touches, with lots of encouragement for family and new baby to happily bond. A friend who’s had surgery in the cancer care center reports that her room’s stereo system was top-notch. She’s a professional hospital worker from out of state, and she gives the cancer unit an “A+” for the personal attention she received. With advance notice, pet visitation is allowed (be sure the pet’s with a trained handler and you have a recent copy of its vaccination record). While there are sort of official visiting hours, the staff tends to be pretty relaxed about visitors if you would like them more often.Boulder Community opened a new, comprehensive 54-bed hospital in 2003, at an east Boulder site on Arapahoe Avenue and the Foothills Parkway. The three-story, 200,000-square-foot facility has a 24-hour emergency department, intensive care unit, cancer center, surgery, radiology and laboratory services and a state-of-the-art cancer center. Maternity care and pediatrics are major components of the campus as well.A satellite clinic in Lafayette is Community Medical Center, at 1000 South Boulder Road (303-666-4357).Behavioral-health services at Mapleton include inpatient psychiatric care and day-treatment programs for adults and adolescents. The hotline for emergency evaluation is (303) 441-0400.