URGENT CARE AND RESOURCES
Emergencies happen - When in doubt remember asking questions is never wrong and having your child seen when you are worried will help keep them safe AND help you sleep better at night. Being an active advocate for your child is vital to their success. Today’s information age can be overwhelming, between the latest news drama and all the “experts” screaming their opinion, it is hard to know what to believe. I am happy to sit down with you and go over the latest research on any topic, it’s a passion of mine and I love sorting through the data to find solid answers. Until then, here are some websites with basic, generally reliable, and useful information, along with some emergency contact resources you can use in a pinch.
Certainly, in an emergency you should always call 911, but for those times when you have urgent questions after your pediatrician is closed here are some useful numbers to have:
Poison Control
1-800-222-1222
If you are unsure about something your child ate, got on their skin, or inhaled – please call them immediately and double check with the experts.
Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children
303.563.3300 or 877.647.7440
These phone numbers are staffed 24 hours a day by licensed pediatric nurses.
The Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children is part of Presbyterian St Luke’s in downtown Denver. Their emergency room provides excellent care and generally has shorter wait times. They are located at the corner of 19th and High Street in Denver. (1719 East 19th Avenue, Denver, CO 80218)
Click here for directions to Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children
The Children’s Hospital of Colorado
720.777.0123
This phone number is staffed 24 hours a day by pediatric emergency medicine nurses.
The Childrens Hospital of Colorado is located at 13123 East 16th Ave, Aurora, CO 80045. Children’s Colorado is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 best Children’s Hospitals in the country, and if you need advanced pediatric subspecialty care they are the premier hospital in Colorado.
Click here for directions to Childrens Hospital of Colorado
Both the pediatric emergency room at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children and the emergency room at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado are staffed specifically with Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physicians 24 hrs a day, and yes, I am biased, but I have seen this make a substantial difference in the quality of your child’s care.
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A note on “urgent care” – I have sadly seen many parents take their child to be seen in an “urgent care” facility only to be billed for an Emergency Room visit. An urgent care is good for earaches or sore throats in the middle of the night, but if you believe your child’s arm is broken – I would go a Pediatric ER where you will get great care. The urgent care facility will frequently say it was “emergent” and charge you at the emergency rate regardless. Call ahead so that you know what to expect. If you need Urgent Care – I would recommend Children’s Colorado Urgent Care, Wheat Ridge 720-777-1370.
Childrens Colorado
This website is written and maintained by Children’s Hospital Colorado, in Aurora. It is particularly helpful when discussing infections in our local community, and also has many links to other high quality sources of information.
Healthy Children
This is the parent website written by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is extremely up to date, and includes an enormous amount of information. It includes everything from routine behavior and development to a cold symptom analyzer, in addition it has safety information, updates on recalls and information about medical stories that are in the news.