Community Hospital: a Welcome Secular Option for Mesa County

The entry hallway of the new Community Hospital building on G Road near 24 Road

The entry hallway of the new Community Hospital building on G Road near 24 Road

Community Hospital will open its long-awaited new hospital on G Road near 24 Road on March 17.

It’s a gorgeous building, with beautiful main hallways, state-of-the art equipment, large windows on every floor, wonderful views and tons of light. It has 44 private rooms and a new labor and delivery center with extra beds for family members and jacuzzi tubs, all inside each of the exclusive individual birthing suites. The new emergency room is much bigger and better equipped than the old building’s, and the hospital has lots comfy waiting areas throughout for families and friends of patients.

The hospital employees who took the time last Saturday to give the public tours of the new building were enthusiastic about the move to the new facility and obviously very dedicated to their jobs.

A Very Important Option

In addition to its great new building, Community Hospital also offers Mesa County residents another very important value: it’s a secular (non-religious) hospital that can offer full service medical care to everyone.

St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center, a Catholic facility, is the biggest hospital between Denver and Salt Lake City, but because what happens at St. Mary’s is guided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (pdf) rather than by the most informed decisions of doctors, Catholic hospitals can deny people access to many important and necessary health care services and procedures.

Because of their religious dogma, Catholic hospitals can place non-medical concerns ahead of patients’ needs.

Catholic hospitals deny women abortions, contraception, tubal ligations and infertility assistance. They can also deny men vasectomies. They can withhold emergency contraception from female rape victims and deny women help for reproductive emergencies like ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages. They can restrict patients’ end-of-life choices, too.

Some important surgical procedures that can be easily done during a C-section, like tubal ligation to prevent future pregnancies, are not permitted at Catholic hospitals, so a woman who gives birth by C-section at St. Mary’s would have to be discharged and then undergo another operation to have her tubal ligation done at another hospital.

So in addition to Community Hospital moving into a brand new, well-equipped hospital, we need to appreciate and applaud the fact that Community Hospital gives area residents a secular option for medical care, because Community can provide citizens with health services without the limitations and restrictions imposed by a religious order.

Oh, and there’s one more bonus: Community Hospital  doesn’t have any scary guys nailed to the walls of their patient rooms, making all patients feel comfortable in yet another significant way.

 

4th floor patient room

4th floor patient room

Bathroom in a patient room

Bathroom in a patient room

4th floor hallway

4th floor hallway

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