Healthcare Design - October 2015 - 32

Lights out
New Orleans has made tremendous improvements to
its flood protection systems over the past 10 years. For
example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent
more than $12 billion since the storm to complete levee
and flood control projects in southeastern Louisiana.
While the risk of another Katrina-grade flood disaster
may be small, the risk of power outages remains high.
In 2012, the mild Category 1 Hurricane Isaac knocked
out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses
across southern Louisiana, leaving some in the dark for
weeks. "Power loss is a threat every single summer. We
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needed not just emergency power but 100 percent full
backup power to keep everything running. [The system]
is designed so that if you're in the building, you won't
even know it lost power," Failla says.
Scott Landry, senior vice president of facilities for
LCMC Health, the organization that operates both
the new UMC New Orleans and VA hospitals, learned
during Katrina that facilities need to be able to survive
longer without help from the outside world. To that end,
the hospitals each feature their own on-site energy substations that can support the facilities with full operating
power for at least a week.
Architects engaged in extensive discussions and
analysis about how long facilities had to sustain themselves. They worked through scenarios and past history
to determine necessary requirements to support everything from HVAC systems and chilled water to critical
equipment and even televisions in the lobby. Landry
says the power plan started with changes in policies
to minimize the human loads on buildings during a
hurricane. In the past, it was common for hospitals
to allow employees to bring their families to shelter in
place. During Katrina, many hospitals, including the old
Charity Hospital and the VA site, sheltered thousands
of staff family members. This not only increased the
need for services but made evacuations more complex
and difficult. Landry says hospitals now help staff find

Top, left: Several landscaped
courtyards with water gardens
provide tranquility inside and
outside the UMC New Orleans
building. Abundant windows
afford far-reaching views and
add daylight and transparency
throughout. Top, right: UMC
New Orleans houses private
patient rooms with space
for family to remain with
patients throughout their stay.
Above: UMC New Orleans'
surgery suite is located on
the building's fourth level
and includes a biplane
interventional radiology
operating room, pictured here.

only get around by boat. Interstate ramps had really
worked well as boat launches. It allowed boats to easily pull up and load evacuees," Failla says.
Also at the VA, each elevator bank features one
car that doesn't go below the second floor. Should
the facility require gutting or mold remediation after a
disaster, this would leave at least one working car in
each elevator bank if the first floor floods. The top floor
of one of the parking garages was also designed with
enough reinforcement to accommodate a landing pad
for a Chinook helicopter, the type that was used for
evacuations during Katrina.
Fernando Rivera, director of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, says that as a
federal project with more stringent design requirements, the VA hospital was also constructed with 30
percent more steel in the frame. The campus features
a 1,200-foot-long concourse at the fourth-floor level
that carries utilities, wires, and medical gas lines along
with a pedestrian walkway to each of the buildings
on the campus, keeping both utilities and staff out of
harm's way in the event of a flood. "You can get from
building to building without going outside, even during
a high flood," Rivera says.

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Healthcare Design - October 2015

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