1st LEED for Healthcare in Michigan

Yesterday, Sparrow Health System celebrated the LEED for Healthcare Certification of Sparrow Ionia Hospital. Our own Russ Hinkle, the project manager on this healthcare project, said a few words at the ceremony. Below is his speech which details some of the elements that lead to this LEED certification.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here and share in the celebration of this great recognition.  Hobbs+Black and Peter Basso have really enjoyed being part of this great team.  As other’s have said, LEED for Healthcare is a unique rating system and I would like to point out some of the interesting features in this building that you will not see in the typical LEED certified project.

Most consider water to be one of Michigan’s greatest resources and this building goes the extra mile to conserve water.   Besides the typical water saving bathroom fixtures and kitchen facets, this project also has water efficient ice machines.  The medical equipment in the building does not use any potable water for cooling.  There is no irrigation system; the plantings and grasses were selected to withstand those dry July’s we typically have.  We also installed metering within the water system and set up a plan for FM to monitor the water usage so that anything out of the ordinary can be discovered early on and corrected.

The other major healthcare aspect of this rating system relates to health buildings.  Our Team worked to reduce the use of “persistent bioaccumulative toxins” or PBTs from the building materials.  Light fixtures were selected that do not have any mercury.  The plumbing system was constructed with Lead-free and cadmium free products and design to prevent copper from leaching into the water.  Other materials such as paint and roofing materials are also lead and cadmium-free.

The new furniture purchased met criteria that heavy metals, PFC’s, and other questionable chemicals were not used and they also passed testing to make sure there was no offgasing.  

All of this is to say that of all places, healthcare facilities should be at the forefront of buildings that are health for the people in them and this building has been demonstrated to be a leader.

For more info on the project, please visit these links:
Hobbs+Black Project Info Page
West Michigan USGBC blog post
Ionia Sentinal-Standard article