New green health care facility opens in North America
Kaiser Permanente’s new Modesto Medical Center opened last week, as one of the greenest facilities in America. This is an interesting development, and hopefully, more medical and other public-minded facilities will follow suit. Since opening, the hospital has received national recognition from environmental advocates as one of the “greenest” health care facilities in North America. This is Kaiser Permanente’s first hospital to be registered under the Green Guide for Health Care.
Some of the Modesto Medical Center’s earth-friendly features include:
- Use of natural light, with large windows incorporated into hallways, patient rooms, and the main entrance.
- The hospital will be fully wired with its electronic care system, KP Health Connect, eliminating the need for paper records
- Resilient rubber flooring over vinyl. One major perk of rubber is that it never needs to be waxed or stripped, thus eliminating the need for chemical cleaners.
- PVC-free carpeting, backed with recycled film, used throughout the building.
- PVC-free bumper guards and safety rails on patient floors.
- Phovoltaic lighting for the parking lot and walkways.
- Landscaping comprised of native, drought tolerant plants and grasses - resulting in less water waste and fewer chemicals to maintain.
- Permeable pavement in the driveway which allows rainwater to filter through, recharging groundwater and filtering chemicals from runoff.
- Rooftop solar panels generating enough power for 20 homes, but of course in this case, they’ll be powering the medical facility.
- Reflective or “cool” roofing
- Greener furniture and fixtures.
- Hospital food from local farmers will be served.
Kaiser Permanente is using the Modesto facility as a good practice model and plans on incorporating the same green aspects into future facilities.
I think this is pretty cool. It’s nice to see a typical commercial structure, one that many people will use, go green. There’s plenty of learning opportunities here, both for individuals who receive care and for other medical facilities. It’ll be great to see what works best for a green project of this scope.
What do you think? I know that given the choice, I’d be more likely to choose a green medical facility. Would you?
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Tags: Blogtoberfest, Contest, eco hospital, green doctor, green health care, green health care facility, green medical facility, win free stuffRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Contest, Health & Wellness
26 opinions for New green health care facility opens in North America
CanCan (Mom Most Traveled)
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:31 pm
How fun! I’d love a chance to win!
Kelsey M
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:37 pm
LoL It depends on if I would need to drive farther! but seriously, on principal, I would.
Cathy
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:02 pm
If they are truly green, shouldn’t they include some non-traditional practitioners?
Kristen M.
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Definitely would love to be able to choose a greener facility. I think the newer hospitals and clinics that have been built here (in northern CO) have incorporated better green practices (than previous), but they still could do so much more.
reeva
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:14 pm
i’d love a green facility. Its just as easy to build green and use green products as everything else. I’m glad there is a collective consciousness towards more green/environmentally friendly avenues now :)
Heather S
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I would definately pick a green facility - on a lot of different levels. Love that they are serving local food, supporting area farmers.
Tabitha
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I think a green facility is great. Now to get more companies and such to do the same. Whatever we can do to help save our environment would be great.
Cami
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I love the idea of a green health care facility, especially if it was a birthing center with fantastic midwives!
Kamber
Oct 8, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I would feel better going to a place like that, than a conventional place. Hopefully that is a taste of the future.
loralie
Oct 8, 2008 at 4:45 pm
interesting….
Lindley
Oct 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm
It is nice to see such ideas being implemented. Out here in Denver, being green has become much more mainstream. Thanks!
Jen
Oct 8, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Oh, that’s awesome.
Huguette E.
Oct 8, 2008 at 7:37 pm
That’s awesome! It’s nice that it’s being done :)
Elizabeth M.
Oct 8, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I would absolutely choose a greener facility. Being green means progressive which would translate to the care also. I hope to see this trend growing.
alianora
Oct 8, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I would love to know that I was getting my health care at a green hospital or doctor’s office! It’s a pity it will take forever for something like this to occur anywhere near me.
Theresa Shafer
Oct 8, 2008 at 8:30 pm
the more green we can be, the more green - healthy our health will be. So sign me up. It is time we start cleaning with products we can use around food and people that are not poisons.
Jess
Oct 8, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Yay green facilities! Less chemical pollution will probably decrease nosocomial infections, too.
ikkinlala
Oct 8, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I’d like to see Canadian health care facilities go greener, but I wouldn’t travel too far to access a green facility because the environmental cost of travel might exceed the benefits.
Cindi
Oct 8, 2008 at 11:30 pm
I would choose the hospital with the least staph infections! Thanks, Cindi
Razib Ahmed
Oct 9, 2008 at 5:34 am
This is a good initiative. I just hope that it can be replicated in other parts of North America and Europe. I am happy to live in South Asia. Life is much greener here.
Bebemiqui
Oct 9, 2008 at 9:34 am
It’d be nice if this kind of hospital would become the norm.
bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com
Katie
Oct 10, 2008 at 12:00 am
It’s nice to see more and more larger corporations ‘go green,’ though I’d really like to see more ‘go green’ products available to the average consumer.
Noreen
Oct 10, 2008 at 12:38 am
we used to have kaiser, if a green one was near us I would use it
AnnasMom07
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I would choose a green healthcare facility for non-emergent care as long as it was within reasonable driving distance; otherwise, you bet your butt I’d be driving 90 mph to the nearest ER, even if it was made out of non-recyclable petroleum-based plastics and formaldehyde!
Diana Corlett
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Green is good. I would certainly use a green facility.
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Kisha
Oct 11, 2008 at 1:25 am
That’s pretty cool, I used to live near Modesto and had Kaiser when I lived there. I like this, very nice.