Preventing infections and ensuring patient comfort are priorities to healthcare organisations like Arnprior Regional Health (ARH). ARH, which includes Arnprior & District Memorial Hospital, The Grove Nursing Home and a primary care center, recently overhauled its indoor comfort system to improve temperature control and air quality, creating even more comfort for patients.
The solution reduced ARH’s energy, water and operations and maintenance costs by about USD 176,000 per year, a 28-per cent reduction in energy usage. These savings helped to offset the cost of the project. To achieve these financial and energy savings, ARH collaborated with Trane, a global provider of indoor comfort and energy services solutions and a brand of Ingersoll Rand.
“Heating and ventilation are critically tied to the environment and operations of a healthcare facility,” said John Gruno, ARH’s Manager of Environmental and Facility Services. “In addition to comfort, the HVAC system maintains proper conditions required to operate and conduct medical procedures. The improvements will help support our ability to provide high-quality care to the communities we serve and continue our virtually nonexistent rates of hospital-acquired infections.” At hospitals like Arnprior’s, reliable boilers are a necessity to maintain operations. The team created a separate mechanical room so that the existing boilers could stay functional and keep the hospital running as new ones were installed. The new boilers are much more efficient, operating at 90 per cent efficiency, versus the 67 per cent of the old boilers.
ARH is also making additional improvements to save energy and fund more equipment updates. The healthcare organisation is now working with Trane on the next phase, which includes centralised cooling for part of the facilities.
