Tom Norton: Colorado’s recovery depends on access to healthcare

During my many years working within the public and private sectors, I experienced quite a few crises and “all-hands-on-deck” type moments. But I never could have imagined anything like the coronavirus pandemic.

When the virus struck Colorado, it seemed all was lost. In communities like Greeley, many schools, businesses, and restaurants were forced to close their doors as the world went into lockdown to stem the rising tide of the virus.

It hurt our workers, our families, and our economy — but it was the only option we had to keep our community safe.

Now that Colorado is reopened, we must continue to ensure that access to the most advanced healthcare is at the forefront of our state’s agenda. We saw how important it was for our local hospitals to reform and revamp their healthcare services in the face of the pandemic to keep patients safe and reach them remotely.

The value of having this high-quality healthcare and top-notch staff in our local hospitals is unmatched — we are lucky to have them.

As the coronavirus spread, it was essential to find a way to treat patients remotely as they could not just go to the hospital. Thankfully, our local healthcare workers were more than up to the task, developing multiple forms of telehealth access that kept our community healthy at a time when COVID-19 cases were rising everywhere.

From live video calls to health-based apps, patients no longer had to go in person to receive proper care and attention. It is estimated that some of Colorado’s medical centers saw nearly 40% of patients turn to telehealth during the pandemic.

These healthcare workers are so dedicated that they learned whole new care systems to overcome this massive obstacle.

However, not all patients can be treated remotely. Those afflicted with COVID-19 or other severe ailments had to go in person to their local health center. Thankfully, Colorado’s medical professionals and hospitals went above and beyond to ensure that their facilities were using the best technologies and techniques to keep everyone safe.

There, our healthcare workers continued finding ways to ensure that all patients could receive care in the safest way possible. They implemented extensive health and safety protocols and continued researching to develop better preventative measures.

Healthcare systems across the state, from HealthONE to UCHealth to Banner, used the best methods possible to keep their patients safe and healthy.

I want to commend the front-line workers who worked tirelessly through COVID to continue to provide that quality of care to patients despite challenging circumstances. They spent countless days and nights attending to all patients — whether they had COVID-19 or not.

I will be forever grateful for their hard work and dedication in keeping Coloradans and those in Greeley safe and healthy.

Even as we continue treating COVID-19 patients, Colorado’s hospitals and healthcare workers remain intent on finding new ways to care for their patients. Telehealth, online resources, and at-home care have all been expanded and improved upon to keep Coloradans even healthier than before.

The evolution in healthcare brought on by the pandemic has unlocked new opportunities and methods to treat patients and reach them in all corners of the state. While we all want to get back to normal, sustaining our economic recovery and getting people back on their feet requires maintaining a healthy workforce and community — that’s only made possible with the high-quality patient care our hospitals provide every day.

— Tom Norton is a former State Senator, former Executive Director of Colorado Department of Transportation, and more recently was the Mayor of Greeley, Colorado.