(COLORADO SPRINGS) — UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central leads the charge in healthcare innovation, home to a one-of-a-kind medical unit dedicated to providing forensic nursing care for victims or suspected victims of violence or abuse.

Last April marked the opening of the 3,700-square-foot Forensic Center of Excellence, featuring five exam rooms and a nurses’ station, serving as the central point for the forensic telehealth program.

“Since we opened just short of a year ago, we have seen a massive increase in patients but also have gotten some really incredible feedback from our patients about how much they love this space,” said Clinical Manager for the UCHealth Forensic Nurse Examiners Team, Sarah Hagedorn. “How much they just appreciate sort of the colors, the feel, the quiet and the safety in the Forensic Center of Excellence, so this is something we’re incredibly proud of.”

UCHealth Memorial Central is home to a first-of-its-kind medical unit designed to provide specialized care for patients who are victims or suspected victims of assault or abuse.

Previously, patients received medical exams in a designated emergency department room for forensic exams.

The center, located adjacent to the Level I Trauma Center, now offers a serene space with calming colors and thoughtful design, providing a comforting environment for patients. Since the beginning of this year, the team of forensic nurses has observed a rise in the number of patients compared to last year.

“We’ve seen almost 800 patients so far this year here at Central, as well as supporting the other UCHealth campuses in the area and we’ve actually been able to bring over 500 patients specifically into the Forensic Center of Excellence,” said Hagedorn.

Specifically, UCHealth clarified these patients are victims or suspected victims of various forms of violence, including sexual assault of all ages, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse and neglect, physical assaults, human trafficking, and strangulation.

The Forensic Center of Excellence has five exam rooms along with a nurses’ station, this is a look inside one of the rooms.

The support goes beyond the exam rooms, as the center also houses a telehealth office that assists nurses across the state who many need help caring for a patient.

“We kind of have two types of telehealth,” Hagedorn said. “We have internal virtual consultation that we provide to UCHealth facilities, but then our major project is our statewide services. We partner with 15 rural and underserved communities to really support their telehealth teams and we do that through education, on-call telehealth services.”

The 15 communities supported through the teleSANE program include Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, Trinidad, Burlington, Hugo, Lamar, Salida, Vail, Springfield, Montrose, Telluride, Craig, Cortez, Gunnison, and Platte Valley.

To demonstrate the power of the technology and this direct support, Hagedorn called Amanda Shelley who works as a clinical coordinator in Avon.

“The providers at UCHealth help with anything literally from the very start of the exam first and even before the start of the exam to even after the patient leaves,” Shelley said. “They were there in the room during the whole exam, so they’re able to offer that help to these nurses who don’t see as many patients, as they go through the entire exam and afterwards.”

Since 2012, Shelley has been practicing forensic nursing and sexual assault nursing, initially beginning her career at UCHealth. Now, as she serves in one of the rural communities, she, along with other nurses, can connect with the team at the Forensic Center of Excellence for any needed guidance or support.

“It’s been phenomenal for our program, as far as our nurses being able to feel confident and they are comfortable coming in and seeing patients,” Shelley said. “It’s also fantastic because as nurses generally you have somebody else, another provider that you can go talk to about a patient, in our facility and most of our settings where the telehealth sites are, we are the only people that are trained that are here at this type of one.”

During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the dedicated staff at the Forensic Center of Excellence are making change beyond southern Colorado, setting an example for future centers across the country.

“Not every community is able to respond the way that we do,” Hagedorn said. “Not every health care system is able to respond like UCHealth, so we actually don’t like to see those numbers going up, what we reframe that as we’re actually accessing more individuals who would not have our services if we weren’t here.”