Building Health

Lighting it up: LED fixture manufacturers target health care facilities

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Light-emitting diode (LED) technology offers hospitals many advantages over traditional lighting, such as energy savings, longer life, lower heat output and design flexibility. Little wonder that it can be found everywhere from parking lots to surgical suites. During the past decade, most health care facilities upgraded their lighting to energy-efficient fluorescent technology, industry experts say. During the next five years, however, more hospitals will upgrade to LED technology.

Two health care facilities win commercial flooring design awards

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

The 12th annual Starnet Design Awards were recently presented to winners during a gala celebration at Puerto Rico's El Conquistador Resort. Seven category winners, two honorable mentions and one Grand Prize Winner were selected from a record 118 entries representing 52 Starnet Member companies. Established in 2000 to celebrate the creativity and talent of professionals in commercial flooring and interiors, the Starnet Design Awards honors entries based on the creative use of flooring, the integration of flooring into the overall design concept and the successful achievement of client objectives.

Register today for the ASHE Annual Conference in San Antonio

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Register now for ASHE's 49th Annual Conference & Technical Exhibition in San Antonio. The Annual Conference, held July 15-18, is focused on dealing with and managing through change - a key issue in today's turbulent health care industry.

The keynote speaker is Scott Waddle, a leadership expert and former Navy Commander of a submarine that collided with a Japanese fishing vessel in 2001, killing nine. Waddle assumed total responsibility for the disaster, describing his role to the Navy's Court of Inquiry despite the fact that his testimony could be used against him. Waddle believes there are no failures in life, only mistakes that lead to lessons. His keynote address will change the way mistakes are perceived.

Get the information you need on topics that include: change management and transitions; compliance strategies; facility management fundamentals; management development; operational excellence; planning, design, and construction; and strategic health care leadership. In addition to the sessions, technical exhibition, receptions, and other events, there will be an optional rodeo and Wild West adventure for attendees at the Rio Cibolo Ranch. For more information about the Annual Conference or to take advantage of early-bird rates (available until June 14), visit the ASHE Annual Conference website.

River Drive Construction completes $3.6 million facility for Ocean Health Initiatives in Lakewood, NJ

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

River Drive Construction, a leading New Jersey construction company based in Elmwood Park, N.J., has announced that it has recently completed a $3.6 million construction project for the Ocean Health Initiatives (OHI) Lakewood Health Center, a health center providing care for people who are either uninsured or underinsured.

Construction starting on cancer institute

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Cooper Health System was set to start construction on its $100 million Cooper Cancer Institute building, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. The four-story, 103,050-square-foot building will be going up at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Haddon Avenue across from Cooper University Hospital.

Naval Air Station hospital completes upgrades

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC has completed a $9.5 million makeover of the Naval Air Station hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. The construction firm based in Birmingham has executed the project, in collaboration with architect RLF and the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command. Scope of work involved overhaul of major clinical and ancillary spaces within the current hospital.

Construction begins on OB, energy efficiency upgrades at hospital

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

William Newton Hospital is commemorating 85 years of service to south central Kansas by undertaking a $1.6 million building improvement project. The effort, which began in April, is a combination of several projects coordinated to minimize disruption of services. Improvements will include remodeling the family birthing center, energy efficiency upgrades throughout the facility and enhancements to the high pressure steam system used in disinfection and sterilization.

Communication and trust: Key ingredients in occupied health care renovations

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Unlike any other type of construction, the ever-changing challenges of building today's health care facilities are many. Accommodating specialized staff/patient needs from pediatrics to geriatrics requires health care and construction professionals to simultaneously think broadly and acutely.

ICU latest section of Rockford Memorial Hospital to be updated

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Rockford Memorial Hospital leaders have targeted three of the hospital's high-traffic medical departments for major renovations during the past year, part of a bigger and cost-effective plan to modernize the nearly 60-year-old facility. Next month, officials will unveil new renovations to the first-floor adult intensive care unit after recently showing off a remodeled mother-baby unit and an expanded emergency department in December.

RTKL transform military hospital and create a dialogue between old and new

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

A 750,000 sq ft addition to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) will almost double the size of the existing hospital, thus creating the San Antonio Military Medical Center. The design challenge is to add a structure nearly two-thirds the size of the existing hospital within a military post, Fort Sam Houston, without it feeling "military." Many constituents wanted to replicate the existing architecture, completed in 1995, that consisted of punched windows in deep and heavy brick façades enveloping the entire hospital irrespective of the façade's orientation.

Construction underway for new Pendleton, Ore., hospital

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

A new hospital is coming soon in Pendleton, Ore. Construction has already begun for the new St. Anthony's Hospital on the other side of town, near Highway 395 and Southridge Plaza. It's going to be a 103,000 square foot facility, and hopefully completed by the end of 2013. The hospital Director Of Communication, Larry Blanc says the current hospital has simply run out of room to expand in its current location.

Planning for South Hall hospital draws to close

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Design work should begin next month on the Northeast Georgia Health System's new South Hall hospital. "Master planning is where we are right now," said Anthony Williamson, health system vice president at a meeting of the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce's South Hall Business Coalition.

ProMedica Toledo Hospital opens new stroke unit

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

ProMedica Toledo Hospital in Ohio has opened its $10 million stroke unit. The facility is located on the tenth story of the hospital's Renaissance Tower. It covers an area of 28,000 square feet and incorporates advanced technology. It consists of 35 private rooms which include 15 rooms dedicated for the neurointensive care unit. All the rooms sport private bathrooms.

Salem Community Hospital plans $42.5 million bed tower in Salem, Ohio

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

Salem Community Hospital announced plans to build a $42.5 million patient bed tower on the east side of the State Street facility to address the trend toward private patient rooms. "The vision of our future is clear - we want to be the hospital of choice in our community," SCH Outgoing President/CEO Howard Rohleder said.

Saphire + Albarran's fit out for new imaging center in New Jersey

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

This project creates a new standard of care for medical imaging in an underserved area. Located in Southern New Jersey, where the area's only hospital, Kessler Hospital, was recently closed, the project establishes a state-of-the-art medical imaging center within a new Urgicare Center that is open 24 hours a day.

Completion of Poplar Bluff, Mo., hospital slated for January

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

A new date for completing construction of the $173 million Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center was announced during the Topping Out Celebration. "We are very excited to announce we will open the doors and begin operations in January 2013," said Charles Stewart, market chief executive officer for PBRMC and the Missouri Region. "This is more than a year earlier than originally announced."

Shands sheds light on atrium plans for children's hospital

17 May 2012 09:13:23 CDT

The new entrance and lobby to the Shands Hospital for Children will feature a two-story atrium, University of Florida officials announced. The project will cost $8 million to $9 million and is the latest step in the transformation of the east end of Shands into a pediatric center, said Dr. David Guzick, president of the Shands Health System.