Last week Jeff Geoghan challenged us to find out what is going on at our local level.
The Grand Rapids Press has had an article on Green Building nearly every day. Sunday June 3, 2007 the Grand Rapids Press shouted "Hospital Plants Its Roof" on the front page of the region section. How excited am I to be able to share this with you!
Metropolitan Hospital, a 238-bed Osteopathic Teaching Hospital in Grand Rapids was recently named by Solucient as one of the top 100 Hospitals in the nation. Metropolitan Health is currently creating a "Health Village" and will be moving to their new facility in Wyoming Michigan. The projected date for the move is September 2007.
Now Metro Health is also leading the way in Environmentally friendly design. Atop of their 1 acre roof 108,000 plants were planted creating the second largest green roof in the state of Michigan. Metro Health is also currently the ONLY Michigan hospital using this roof design. The roof has been partially funded by a grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) which provided a $400,000 Clean Michigan Initiative grant for the roof, which cost around $800,000. Although the cost for the green roof is about twice what it would be for a "normal" roof life expectancy should be increased from the normal 25 years to 50 years. Sustainability is a big feature of LEED and Green Building.
Not only will the green roof feature benefits of absorbing water and reducing rain run-off into sewer systems, rivers, streams, etc. the roof will also be a featured component of the healing process. Nearly 80% of patient rooms will overlook the roof. Bill Kovacs, a nurse and a master gardner, talks about how important nature is in the healing process.
According to www.michigan.org Metro Health will also be the first health care campus in Michigan and one of the few in the nation, to receive LEED certification. Wow!
Metro Health's website boasts "Something Amazing Is Happening In West Michigan." From the little research I have done into this today, it is very true! Please check out the links I have provided to find out more! I would love to post some pictures but I don't have any original photos and really don't care to mess with the copywrite gods today.
As your Michigan Green Connection I will certainly be following up with several people listed in the article and I will get out there and get some original pictures to post!
I am so proud to see what Michigan is doing to sustain the environment and be on the forefront of the Green Building Initiatives! Once a leader in automobiles, we will now be a leader in environmental awareness!!! I am proud to boast about the intelligent and proactive professionals in Michigan.
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