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Left: A headwall disguises medical switches and outlets, while keeping all within ergonomic reach. Below: A patient room with a view of the tranquility garden. French doors enable beds to roll outside onto the porch. A window seat doubles as a family sleep area.
4. Communication between staff and patients is facilitated by a nurse call system incorporating two-way voice communication, electronic tones and illumination of indicating lamps in the patient-care and staff areas.
Path to Energy Star Ideally, Providence Mount Carmel Hospital would have pursued LEED certifi cation for the new facility. However, the available funds precluded that opportunity since the steps required for LEED certifi cation proved too costly – at 3-5 percent of the construction cost – for the hospital to imple-
ment. Instead, the design team elected to employ the Green Guide for Health Care as the primary sustainable-design reference in planning and designing the new facility, with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Sustainable Sites Credit checklist serving as an additional resource. "The Green Guide for Health Care allowed Providence Mount Carmel Hospital to take the right steps in a process they could afford," asserts Ryan Monson, AIA, NCARB, project manager for KDF Architecture, the project's design architect. James Schmitz, P.E., LEED AP and principal mechanical engineer with MW Consulting Engineers noted the guide is more specifi c to hospitals than LEED, addressing issues such as more individual room control and elimination of mercury in a facility. MW Consulting Engineers provided mechanical and electrical engineering and architectural lighting design services for the project. "Energy effi ciency is a top priority for Providence hospitals. Every project over $5 million goes through the eco-charrette process and involves all engineers, the design architect, the general contractor and the local utility," said Mike Kelly, director of facilities/urban campuses for Providence Health Care, which owns and operates Providence Mount Carmel Hospital. "Value engineering also plays a critical role. We look at the value of application, making choices based on lifecycle considerations. Lifecycle costs, daylighting and energy effi ciency issues are all carefully examined to leave no stone unturned."
26 Medical Construction & Design | March/April 2012
As a member of Providence Health & Services, which represents 29 hospitals in six western states, Providence Mount Carmel Hospital was able to tap the organiza- tion's resources and expertise on energy effi ciency, utility management and sustainable best practices in designing its replacement facility. Richard Beam, director of Energy Management Services at Providence Health & Services, led the eco-charrette, giving a presentation on Providence New- berg Medical Center in Oregon, which was the fi rst hospital in the United States to earn LEED-Gold certifi cation. "Richard outlined the process undertaken in planning and designing the new Providence Newberg Medical Center," Schmitz said. "His detailed explanation of how the Newberg design team approached the sustainability aspects of the Oregon project informed our process for Providence Mount Carmel Hospital."
Based on input from the eco-charrette and follow-up research, MW Consulting Engineers identifi ed multiple energy-usage savings via: > Light pollution reduction > Community contaminant prevention of airborne releases > Domestic potable water use reduction (by 20 percent) > CFC reduction in HVAC and refrigeration equipment > Refrigerant selection > Medical equipment effi ciency > Persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemical elimination of mercury use in equipment
> Air-quality monitoring > Chemical and pollutant source control (indoor and outdoor)
> Controllability of lighting, thermal and ventilation systems
> Continuous comfort monitoring system www.mcdmag.com
