Catholic Health Services is always exploring ways to invigorate the organization in ways that reinforce the delivery of superior care to patients and residents, support staff commitment to excellence, and continued stewardship of the community and the planets resources. Their mantra, like their tagline is Quality care + Quality Service = a Higher Quality of Life!
Starting with the construction of the new facility in Hialeah Gardens, St. Catherines West Rehabilitation Hospital, Catholic Health Services is going green with energy management. Identifying technologies and equipment that will use less water and energy allows staff to improve their response time and productivity as well as making it easier to manage the facilities and systems. Its no secret that healthcare facilities that build green lower their energy cost, reduce waste and provide a healthier environment for their patients and employees. The overall goals of the CHS plan are to reduce energy usage and greenhouse emissions, reduce water usage, and minimize utility costs.
St. Catherines West Rehabilitation Hospital Photo provided by Arellano Construction
The 67,300 square foot St. Catherines West Rehab Hospital, will be the first healthcare facility in South Florida to implement such steps that will lean toward green.
“Working with consultants specializing in energy management and efficiency, together with our contracted electrical engineers on the project, we will put in place a Building Management System which improves staff productivity, saves energy and pre-empts problems by automatically alerting staff if a setting or system starts going out of range so that steps can be taken to avoid serious problems. For example, the green friendly HVAC units are high efficiency and continuously track and monitor for any potential deficiency or failure in the system.” says George Miraglia, Catholic Health Services Director of Facilities Management.
CHS strategy includes retrofitting its existing facilities and campuses, totaling over 430,000 square feet. These numbers reflect medical campuses such as CHS South Campus housing St. Annes Nursing Center and Residence, Villa Maria Nursing Center which is over 150,000 sq ft and the CHS North Campus, where four different service lines occupy over 160,000 sq feet of space. Among the proposed initiatives for energy management are low-flow water technologies, such as installing low-flow toilets, urinals, showerheads and faucets; specialized recycling equipment; lighting technology and daylight harvesting and installation of occupancy sensors.
“In our older buildings we plan to replace existing chillers with more energy efficient ones which will allow us to optimize temperature set points. During times of low demand for chilled water, we can set the temperature higher so there is less energy used unnecessarily. We also plan to utilize variable speed drives on chillers which result in longer motor life as well as conserving energy. Heat pump chillers will also help reduce energy use. A combination unit can capture the waste heat from chilling water and use it to create hot water,” shares Miraglia. “Computerized utility systems will continuously monitor our usage and efficiency.” Re-commissioning of existing systems is also under consideration. It would require scrutiny of each system to ensure that it is working as originally designed. Adjustments would be made to optimize performance of each system as usage may have changed since the initial installation and systems may have expanded or been altered. These steps can extend the life of the equipment and systems while improving energy efficiency.
In addition to the environmental benefits enjoyed through the implementation of these initiatives, there exists abundant documentation confirming that green health care facilities are better able to prevent the spread of germs, provide healthier indoor air and let in more natural light. “The financial impact of this system wide project is significant,” comments Mary Jo Frick, VP Finance Catholic Health Services. “We anticipate a potential annual savings of over $250,000 when combining electric, gas and water consumption. These savings free up cash for self funding facility upgrades. There are also numerous grants and rebate opportunities that can help offset the costs of improvements under consideration.”
Critical to the successful execution of the overall program is information and education. CHS plans to provide employees with educational materials and in-services introducing them to the concept of sustainability, which will help employees identify opportunities for reducing their use of resources and minimizing waste.
The following illustrates the depth of the community impact through these planned initiatives over a 12 year period.
Passenger cars not driven for one year: 3,374 Gallons of Gasoline: 1,775,329 Barrels of oil: 36,250 Household electricity for one year (# of households): 2,001 Tons of waste recycled instead of land filled: 5,248
