Expanded ER Department at Mt. San Rafael Hospital Improves Delivery of Care, Modernizes Image + Brand

A $25-million, 8,900-square-foot renovation to the new two-story emergency department addition at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado is complete, part of an overall 31,000-square-foot renovation project designed to improve the delivery of care for the community and modernize the hospital’s image and brand. The project team included SLAM (The S/L/A/M Collaborative) and GH Phipps.

A new patient room on the second floor of the expanded 14-bed patient care unit of the ED at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado.

The design team completed both exterior and interior facility upgrades, following the hospital’s last modernization initiative in 1972. The building’s exterior combines metal panel cladding, stucco and curtainwall, with accents of the region’s indigenous Colorado sandstone. On approach to the front entry is a welcoming healing garden that includes a meandering stone path with strategically placed and locally sourced boulders and a few native trees, shrubs, grasses and other plantings.

The interior architecture of the new ED was designed with safety in mind for patients, visitors and staff. The ED and imaging services are located on the first floor, where site lines were maximized for visual control from all corners of the department. Throughout the hospital corridors, many spaces were designed to complement and serve as a backdrop for artwork by local artists.

Registration area

The second floor is home to an expanded 14-bed patient care unit, along with a new central plant. An increase in capacity of the patient rooms went from 205 square feet to 290 square feet, providing enhanced views of the outdoors and to better accommodate visits from family members.

Spaces throughout the department are closely linked to ensure ease of patient transport between the ED and radiology, for example, which is now condensed into one area. Also new are an Inova Emergency Medical Associates triage room and consultation rooms for family and physicians to meet.

Photos courtesy of Bob Soman Photography.