The first all-electric hospital of its size in the country opened in Irvine Wednesday as UCI Health’s new facility aims to provide health care while reducing its carbon footprint.
The acute care hospital was built on what used to be empty marshland at the corner of Jamboree Road and Campus Drive.
“We are a 24/7 operation. We don’t even have a lock on that front door,” Chad Lefteris, UCI Health CEO, said. “We are always on, ‘How can we lessen impact on the environment?’ — something we set out to do from the very start.”
The seven-story facility with 144 beds welcomed patients as all the technology in patient rooms to hospital equipment, even the kitchen, is powered by solar panels and water.”
The only little bit of fossil fuels we have are code-required for life safety back-up,” Lefteris explained. “In unlikely event of emergency or power would go down, we have to have diesel generator that can pop up in seconds.”
The 350,000-square-foot hospital also generates 1,000 new health care jobs, UCI health officials said.
The opening completes UCI Health’s $1.3 billion Irvine Medical Campus, which hospital officials hope patients notice as the design is not meant to look and feel like a hospital.
“You’re walking on this amazing courtyard that is actually the roof of the operating rooms and the procedure rooms , the UCI Health CEO said. “This was a deliberate design, intended to press the building down to the slopes for amazing views for our patients.”
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