After natural disasters have damaged or destroyed a number of U.S. healthcare facilities recently, hospitals have been trying to ensure patient safety, preserve power and protect IT systems and patient records through resilient design, according to an article on the Hospitals & Health Networks website.

With resilient design, hospital leaders are drawing on lessons learned from past events to develop facilities that will resist a variety of disasters and to recover quickly.

Mercy, a health system based in St. Louis, used resilient design for Mercy Hospital Joplin (Mo.), a replacement facility for St. John’s Regional Medical Center that was blown apart by a direct hit from a tornado in 2011.

The new building has a precast exterior and a multilayer roof system constructed of lightweight concrete atop a metal deck. Precast material and concrete roofing on the previous facility withstood the forces of the 2011 tornado fairly well, according to project team members. 

Read the article.