A White House report is warning healthcare facilities to be prepared for climate change, according to an article on The Blaze website.
The report suggests placing emergency rooms away from areas prone to flooding and having backup plans for electricity generation and water supplies.
The report also calls for hospitals to use “predictive climate models” in construction.
“For critical healthcare facilities, it is no longer acceptable to design new buildings using current disaster thresholds,” the report said.
“Planning must recognize that hospitals have a minimum life of 50 years. Healthcare organizations should use predictive climate models to set design values, such as maximum outdoor air temperatures for load sizing, maximum rainfall events for stormwater systems, projected sea level rise for minimum elevations, and maximum wind speeds for enclosures of critical spaces.”
Several health care organizations endorsed the report, according to the article. They include Inova Health System, the Cleveland Clinic, Dignity Health, Gunderson, Kaiser Permanente, the American Hospital Association, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
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