June 19, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 148, Issue 28
A publication of
goldentranscript.net
GOP analyst: ‘Highly unlikely’ governor loses
WELCOMING THE RIDERS
Republican gubernatorial primary a tough one to predict By Vic Vela
vvela@coloradocommunitymedia.com
The City of Golden played host to the finishing line of this year’s Ride the Rockies. The 471-mile, six-day bicycle odyssey took riders over many of the state’s biggest passes. After their adventures, cyclists crossed the finish line beneath Golden’s famous “Welcome” sign, before enjoying some much-deserved rest and relaxation with live music and food in Parfet Park. Photo by Glenn Wallace
Growth with an eye to the grey St. Anthony expands emergency department By Clarke Reader
creader@colorado communitymedia.com A trip to the emergency room is never going to be an entirely painless process, but St. Anthony Hospital has expanded its emergency department to provide as much safety and comfort as possible to patients. The expansion has been opened for less than a month and features private rooms, noise reduction, soft lighting, skid-resistant flooring and extra thick mattresses. There are also assistive devices to make communication easier and advanced visual and hearing technologies are available for those in need. According to Dr. Winston Tripp, Medical Director of the hospital’s Emergency Department, a crucial part of the expansion was to offer the best possible care to the senior population. With the coming “silver tsunami” more and more seniors are requiring emergency care, he added. “We have the new TransMotion stretcher-chairs here at St. Anthony Hospital, which can change from a stretcher and transport device into a chair,” Tripp said. “It’s far more comfortable and allows for ease in transportation.” Beth Dunn, a registered nurse and DiPOSTAL ADDRESS
The new TransMotion stretcher-chairs are at St. Anthony Hospital, which can change from a stretcher and transport device into a chair. Photos by Justin LeVett Photography rector of Emergency Services, there has been a steady rise in senior patients at St. Anthony and that has lead the hospital to examine the ways they can give these patients the best experience. “We pride ourselves on organizing our resources here to provide a very positive and professional experience,” she said. “Our patient satisfaction score is above 92 percent in the last 20 months and that’s something we’re very proud of.”
GOLDEN TRANSCRIPT
Dunn added that the hospital is one of the few recipients of the Lantern Award for Excellence. While it is too early to get statistical feedback about how the expanded emergency services have been received, the anecdotal has been extremely positive and the hospital is looking to build on that
A longtime Republican political analyst said he doesn’t know which of the four GOP contenders for governor will come out of next week’s primary — but it’s doubtful that any of them can beat Gov. John Hickenlooper in the fall. However, the four Republicans who are vying to unseat Hickenlooper take issue with that assessment. Bob Loevy, a retired Colorado College political science professor who has analyzed Colorado politics for decades, believes that Hickenlooper “remains the strong favorite” to win re-election in November, regardless of which candidate Republican voters select to face him in the June 24 primary. “Yes, this is an exciting primary, but what I take away from it is, at the moment, it’s highly unlikely any of these candidates can beat Hickenlooper,” said Loevy, a registered Republican. Voters ballots will have their ballots tallied next week for four Republican candidates next week: former Congressmen Bob Beauprez and Tom Tancredo; Secretary of State Scott Gessler; and former state Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp. Loevy said that it’s “almost impossible to say who is going to win.” “There is little basis on which to think which of these candidates stands out from the other,” he said. “The vote is going to be split. None are total non-entities... you can give a reason why each one of them might win and why each one might lose.” Regardless, Loevy believes that “none of these candidates have the asset of looking like a winner in November.” “The main criticism of (Hickenlooper) is he’s too moderate,” he said. “In that case you’re criticizing him for what wins elections.” But in recent interviews with Colorado Community Media that occurred prior to Loevy’s analysis, the GOP hopefuls pointed out plenty of areas where they see weaknesses in the governor’s record. Beauprez blasted Hickenlooper’s “failure of leadership” on several policy fronts. Tancredo said the governor “kicked the ball down the field” when he granted a temporary reprieve for death row inmate Nathan Dunlap, who killed four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1996. Kopp said that Hickenlooper hasn’t provided leadership on the hot issue of local community control of hydraulic fracking. “He should stand up against the radical
Growth continues on Page 3
GOP continues on Page 3
(ISSN 0746-6382)
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