A Green Pediatric Hospital Grows in Pittsburgh
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY on 05.10.07
There’s news out of Pittsburgh that the Heinz Endowments have awarded $5 Million to the Children’s Hospital there to be utilized in the establishment of an environmentally friendly hospital that treats environmental diseases. Specifically, the grant will be used to create the Pediatric Environmental Medicine Center inside of the new $575 Million “green” hospital being built, and that in and of itself sounds like quite a bright idea to me. Let’s face it, why shouldn’t all hospitals be as green as they can be? But this new Children’s Hospital will be one of the first in the nation incorporating environmentally “green” technology into it’s infrastructure; including things like air filtration systems that lower emissions, water fixtures that reduce water use and waste management that reduces the amount of solid waste in landfills. Not enough? How about even more great stuff like easy access to public transportation, availability of bike racks and showers, recycling water when appropriate, preferred parking for those who carpool, and even the use of recycled materials when constructing the building itself. And they’re realizing it makes business sense too because research shows that environmentally sustainable buildings contribute to the improved health, comfort, and productivity of their residents through the use of more natural light and the promotion better air quality. That means patients and staff will have an easier time focusing on improving healthcare and recovery, and less time feeling like they’re spending time in a cold, dark hospital. And in this new, environmentally friendly pediatric center their first order of business will be to develop new ways to prevent and treat asthma. I’m thinking that given its extraordinarily high rate of incidence among children in this country they probably couldn’t have made a better choice for an initial focus. via::centredaily.com
Green Hospitals! That certainly sounds like the way of the future. There more big operations that can become environmentally responsible and use renewable/clean resources the better, for all of us.
I live in pittsburgh. While it seems that the hospital has good access to public transport (the bus), the hospital will be moving from somewhere where 25+ busses stop at the front door, to somewhere where 1, maybe 2, busses will stop.
Plus, they are doing ALOT of cutting of the busses, so who knows what access it will have in the future.