Still others see on the horizon more extreme cold or harsher winter storms. For some it will include higher winds and greater flooding for others it will be more droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. 9 But not all hospitals face the same future. Given projected changes to global average temperatures, precipitation patterns, and sea levels in the coming decades, health care facilities can expect new and heightened threats from natural disasters and extreme weather. For access and supplies, they rely heavily on public transportation infrastructure, which can be shut down abruptly by a disaster. 8 Hospitals consume more power and water than most other buildings and businesses, so disruptions in power and water supplies can have substantial impacts on operability. Guenther and Balbus recognized that hospitals have special needs relative to many other buildings, just as they also have great responsibilities. So she and colleague John Balbus, a senior advisor for public health with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), decided to fill that gap. 7īut few of these improvements were targeted toward hospitals, says Robin Guenther, a New York City–based architect and expert on sustainable health care facilities. 6 The city’s new Building Resiliency Task Force subsequently translated lessons from the storm into building code modifications designed to reduce future losses from extreme weather events. New York City was no exception after Sandy, which caused some $19 billion in economic losses across the five boroughs. In the aftermath of disaster, local municipalities typically reflect on what went right and what went wrong. 4 Perhaps remarkably, no patients died as a result of the closures and evacuations. 3 The hospital suffered nearly $1 billion in damages, 1 remained fully closed for two months, and went without an emergency room for a year and a half. 2 The hardest hit was NYU Langone Medical Center, where patients were evacuated down a dark stairway after power systems failed. 1 Among them was Bellevue, the nation’s oldest public hospital, which saw its first sustained closure since opening in 1736. Hurricane Sandy forced the evacuation of more than 6,400 patients from six hospitals and 31 residential care facilities.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |