MONROE - With its new addition progressing, Monroe Clinic is fast becoming a leader in the region for its many energy-saving innovations, medical technologies and environmental stewardship.
Chuck Bernhagen, project manager, estimated that the new hospital facility will save 30 to 35 percent on energy costs, compared to a building that merely met required building codes. Capturing and reusing energy is just one of the cost-cutting and environment-friendly ideas found in the new hospital addition.
Bernhagen said two passenger elevators installed there are unlike any he's seen in the Midwest.
"When they come to a stop, there is left over energy that we will bleed off and reuse," he said. "The recaptured energy pays for about a third of the cost (of the elevators operation)."
On the north side of the clinic campus, the helicopter pad, its surrounding area and the path to the hospital will stay snow-free during Wisconsin winters. That's because heat expelled into multiple computer rooms around the hospital is being recovered and rerouted to the helicopter pad to accomplish what normally would have been financially impractical.
Bernhagen wanted at least six feet from the helipad area clear of snow so snow removal equipment couldn't damage landing lights.
"Because if just one of those lights gets broken, you can't use the helicopter," he said.
Recycling materials also is part of the clinic construction plan, and waste diverted from landfills was projected to be about 75 percent. But that amount jumped to about 90 percent, said Bernhagen, thanks to a company that accepted all the drywall destined to be thrown away.
"None of the drywall went into landfills," Bernhagen said. "Instead it was ground up and applied to farm land."
"The clinic will easily exceed all the LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design level) requirements," he added.
Other outpatient facilities have LEED certification, Bernhagen said, but Monroe Clinic, as an inpatient facility, will become the first of its kind for LEED certification.
Patients and staff will enter an entirely new world of technology at the hospital.
For "full service imaging," the hospital will have its own, permanent, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging); a da Vinci (registered trademark) surgical system, a minimal invasive operation procedure; and two CT (CAT) scanners - one for 32 cross-section images and the other for 16 images per rotation.
"This is my thirteenth hospital (to build)," Bernhagen said. "And it is the only medium-sized hospital to have an MRI, a da Vinci, and two CTs."
Liz Carroll, director of Monroe Clinic Community Relations, said the increase in medical testing equipment is based on the community's needs.
"It means less travel for our patients," she said. "If enough people need it, it justifies having it here, without sending people to Janesville, Freeport or Madison."
The imaging unit is located next to the cardiac unit and the emergency room, and doctor offices set next to the triplex design.
"These are the departments that are crossing all the time," Bernhagen said. "It saves thousands of steps on the job by putting them next to each other."
The new facility itself is about to become alive, in one sense of the word.
The intelligence of the computer interactions can reduce temperature and lighting in unused rooms by recognizing patient admission and release information, and are able to provide different light settings needed by doctors and nurses or by the patient when alone or sleeping.
The "intelligent boxes" in intensive care units cost no more than the regular electrical boxes ordered, said Bernhagen.
"There was a very tiny cost for different wiring, but it's low voltage and more energy saving," he added.
The new facilities and renovation work are scheduled to be finished in early 2012, according to hospital officials.
Chuck Bernhagen, project manager, estimated that the new hospital facility will save 30 to 35 percent on energy costs, compared to a building that merely met required building codes. Capturing and reusing energy is just one of the cost-cutting and environment-friendly ideas found in the new hospital addition.
Bernhagen said two passenger elevators installed there are unlike any he's seen in the Midwest.
"When they come to a stop, there is left over energy that we will bleed off and reuse," he said. "The recaptured energy pays for about a third of the cost (of the elevators operation)."
On the north side of the clinic campus, the helicopter pad, its surrounding area and the path to the hospital will stay snow-free during Wisconsin winters. That's because heat expelled into multiple computer rooms around the hospital is being recovered and rerouted to the helicopter pad to accomplish what normally would have been financially impractical.
Bernhagen wanted at least six feet from the helipad area clear of snow so snow removal equipment couldn't damage landing lights.
"Because if just one of those lights gets broken, you can't use the helicopter," he said.
Recycling materials also is part of the clinic construction plan, and waste diverted from landfills was projected to be about 75 percent. But that amount jumped to about 90 percent, said Bernhagen, thanks to a company that accepted all the drywall destined to be thrown away.
"None of the drywall went into landfills," Bernhagen said. "Instead it was ground up and applied to farm land."
"The clinic will easily exceed all the LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design level) requirements," he added.
Other outpatient facilities have LEED certification, Bernhagen said, but Monroe Clinic, as an inpatient facility, will become the first of its kind for LEED certification.
Patients and staff will enter an entirely new world of technology at the hospital.
For "full service imaging," the hospital will have its own, permanent, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging); a da Vinci (registered trademark) surgical system, a minimal invasive operation procedure; and two CT (CAT) scanners - one for 32 cross-section images and the other for 16 images per rotation.
"This is my thirteenth hospital (to build)," Bernhagen said. "And it is the only medium-sized hospital to have an MRI, a da Vinci, and two CTs."
Liz Carroll, director of Monroe Clinic Community Relations, said the increase in medical testing equipment is based on the community's needs.
"It means less travel for our patients," she said. "If enough people need it, it justifies having it here, without sending people to Janesville, Freeport or Madison."
The imaging unit is located next to the cardiac unit and the emergency room, and doctor offices set next to the triplex design.
"These are the departments that are crossing all the time," Bernhagen said. "It saves thousands of steps on the job by putting them next to each other."
The new facility itself is about to become alive, in one sense of the word.
The intelligence of the computer interactions can reduce temperature and lighting in unused rooms by recognizing patient admission and release information, and are able to provide different light settings needed by doctors and nurses or by the patient when alone or sleeping.
The "intelligent boxes" in intensive care units cost no more than the regular electrical boxes ordered, said Bernhagen.
"There was a very tiny cost for different wiring, but it's low voltage and more energy saving," he added.
The new facilities and renovation work are scheduled to be finished in early 2012, according to hospital officials.