A Commitment to Building Green: Enhanced Healing and More

The new Rockingham Memorial Hospital, which opened in June, has become the first inpatient healthcare facility in Virginia to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification from the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.

The new 630,000 square-foot healthcare facility is one of only seven hospitals of its size in the country to achieve LEED Gold certification, according the U.S. Green Building Council’s website.

Research has found that viewing natural scenes or elements fosters recovery by evoking positive feelings. In addition, research has shown that surgical patients with views of nature:

• Had shorter post-operative stays
• Returned fewer negative comments to nurses
• Took less pain medication
• Experienced fewer minor post-operative complications.

Employees who work in green buildings are generally healthier, more productive and more satisfied.

Green features of the new RMH include:

• Healthy indoor air quality. RMH selected plants, furnishings and cleaning supplies that produce few, if any, toxic fumes.
• Energy efficiency. RMH is using methane gas, a byproduct of the county landfill, as one energy source for its boilers.
• Water efficiency. RMH has reduced water flow toilets and low flow public restroom faucets.
• Wetland preservation. RMH created storm water runoff ponds and enhanced the existing wetland area to slow excess water and sediment runoff, thus reducing negative impacts to downstream watersheds.
• Careful waste management. During construction, 80% of construction waste was recycled or diverted from the local landfill.

Learn more about the RMH building green efforts at RMHOnline.com.