Press Kit

• Media Contact
• Facts at a Glance
• Topic Ideas

More than 100 health care systems — representing more than 32 million square feet of construction — are using the Green Guide for Health Care to build and operate hospitals and health care facilities that are healthier for people and the environment:

Contact GGHC

• For general queries, email info@gghc.org
• Ms. Kumkum M. Dilwali, MS, LEED-AP
  Senior Director, Green Guide for Health Care
  221 Boston Rd. Suite 4, Billerica MA 01862
  tel. 617-438-5635   www.gghc.org

Facts at a Glance

• Occupational adult onset asthma attributable to health care workers: 40%
• Tons of solid waste produced annually by health care facilities in the United States: 5,000,000
• Number of Green Guide for Health Care registered projects: 130+
• Square footage of Green Guide for Health Care registered projects: 32,000,000

Topic Ideas

Health Benefits of Green Building

• Building-related health effects: What do we know? (pdf)
  Prepared by Ted Schettler, Science and Environmental Health Network, for the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine: Workshop #8 — Green Healthcare Institutions: Health, Environment, Economics.
• Center for Health Design Research Reports
  Six research reports on a variety of topics, including evidence-based design research, healing gardens, hospital site visits, patient-centered design, and hospital building design. Executive Summaries and list of contents are provided.

Worker Productivity and Green Building

The following studies examine the effect daylighting (a popular green building technique) has on productivity.

• Daylight exposure and the other predictors of burnout among nurses in a University Hospital
• Analysis of the Performance of Students in Daylit Schools (Innovative Design)
• Daylighting and Productivity (Heschong Mahone Group)

Green Building Costs and Benefits

• Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits
  Full report (pdf)
  10-page summary (pdf)
  Slide presentation (ppt)
  Landmark report to over 40 California state agencies that provides the first rigorous assessment of the costs and benefits of green buildings.
• Values-Driven Design and Construction: Enriching Community Benefits through Green Hospitals (pdf)
  Paper presented by The Center for Health design and Health Care Without Harm at a conference in September 2006 sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the "Designing the 21st Century Hospital" project.
• Green Buildings and the Bottom Line: the "New Reality" of Green Building from Environmental Cause to Financial Opportunity. 2006 White Paper published by Building Design + Construction.
• How to Make the Business Case for Green Building in Healthcare (pdf). October 2006 Green Guide for Health Care e-newsletter.
• Greening Health Care Facilities: a CEO's Perspective (pdf)
  The CleanMed 2006 conference in Seattle featured presentations by health care CEO's across the country. The remarks are a summary of their collective perspective on the value of green building and operations.
• Business Case for Green Buildings
  Excerpts adapted from the panel discussion "The Business Case for Green Buildings" presented at CleanMed 2006 in Seattle.
• DBIA/Penn State Healthcare Industry Study (pdf)
  During September and October of 2005, the Design/Build Institute of America held four regional conferences on the delivery of healthcare facilities. Penn State collected survey data from conference attendees concerning opinions about green healthcare facilities.
• Case Study: Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center — A Model for Healthy Building (pdf)
  Kaiser Permanente's new 50-acre, 650,000-square-foot, full-service medical campus in Modesto, California is a model high performance healing environment.

Health Care Construction Spending

• Healthcare building strong through 2008
• After a Strong 2007, Nonresidential Construction Growth Projected to Moderate in 2008
• US Census Bureau Construction Spending
• Health Care Construction Boom Continues
• Hospital Construction Boom Has Not Slowed Down
• McGraw-Hill Construction Health Care Green Building SmartMarket Report: 2007 (report must be purchased)

Press Coverage

• Time Magazine
  Green Guide for Health Care Co-Coordinator Gail Vittori spotlighted in "Innovators" column, 4/07
• Metropolis
  Profile of Green Guide for Health Care Co-Coordinator Robin Guenther, FAIA in "A Healthy Obsession," 6/07
• National Public Radio
  Hospitals Going Green, 5/06
• Clean Design magazine
  Stories from CleanMed 2006 conference, including the Architecture of Healing, The Business Case for Green Building, Boston Green Building, and much more.
• Time Magazine, 5/06
  Healthier Hospital Food
• Eco-Structure Magazine, July/Aug 2006: Discovery Health Center, Perspectives from Health Care Without Harm, News from Green Guide for Healthcare (all pdf)
• Architectural Record (pdf)
  Environmentally-Friendly Building Strategies Slowly Make Their Way Into Medical Facilities; By Nancy Solomon, AIA.
• Building Design + Construction
  14 Steps to Greener Hospitals, 2/06
• Environmental Building News (pdf)
  Hospital, Heal Thyself
• Interior Design
  Building on the Past, article about the Jay Monihan cancer center, built without materials linked to cancer, 2/05