Hospitals go green
mongabay.com
October 4, 2006
Some hospitals are going “green” in an effort to cut pollution and toxic emissions that hurt the health of patients and surrounding communities according to an article in today’s issue of The Wall Street Journal.
Columnist Laura Landro writes that hospitals are incorporating “green design” elements into new facilities. Hospitals are integrating natural light, gardens renewable energy technologies, and materials that don’t emit toxic compounds as “studies show that environmental improvements associated with sustainable buildings… can shorten patients’ length of stay, reduce reliance on medication, and lessen mental and physical stress.”
Landro lists several hospitals employing “green” building design, including Kaiser Permanente Modest Medical Center (Modesto, CA), the Lacks Cancer Center at St. Mary’s Health Care (Grand Rapids, MI), Providence St. Peter Hospital (Olympia, WA), Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion-Hackensack University Medical Center (Hackensack, NJ), Boulder Community Foothills Hospital (Boulder, CO), Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas (Austin, TX), and the Discovery Health Center (Harris, NY).
This article is based on “Hospitals Go ‘Green’ To Cut Toxins, Improve Patient Environment” by Laura Landro. The article appeared in The Wall Street Journal on October 4, 2006.