Colorado-Real-Estate-Journal_470768

Page 8 — Health Care, Senior & Life Sciences Quarterly — July 2025 www.crej.com HEALTH CARE Aurora Mental Health & Recovery is taking a transforma ve step toward mee ng the growing demand for accessible mental health and crisis care in the community. Saunders is proud to partner with them on their journey. I n a world where public health crises can emerge rapidly, the ability for our health care institutions to provide flex- ible, responsive services has never been more critical. This was most recently apparent when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country, causing our hospitals to quickly reach capacity, leaving patients in hallways, parking lots, or unable to access care at all. In response, governments, health agencies and emergency planners rapidly established alternate care facilities to support the surge. What are alternate care facilities? Alternate care facilities are medical spaces created to quickly expand healthcare capacity. They can include tents, shipping con- tainers or be created within exist- ing structures such as schools, convention centers, sports arenas and hotels. Some ACFs were set up for testing and vaccination, where most were laid out for patient care. ACFs are not intended to replace hospitals but to support them in a temporary capacity, staffed with volunteer health care workers, military personnel or temporarily reassigned medical professionals. They are intended to decompress the load on hospitals by transfer- ring low-acuity patients to alter- nate sites so hospitals can priori- tize more critical patients. During the pandemic, we saw the rapid deployment of ACFs around the country, from the conversion of New York City’s Javits Center into a 1,000-bed medical station, to pop-up tent hospitals in Central Park. These initiatives high- lighted the ability of the design com- munity to mobilize under pressure, turning nonmedi- cal spaces into lifesaving environ- ments within days or weeks. Key design considerations Creating an ACF requires balanc- ing urgency with safety and func- tionality. While timelines are often compressed, standards of care must still be maintained. Design professionals must consider sev- eral factors: n The adaptability of existing structures. Designers need to evalu- ate the physical infrastructure of buildings being repurposed. Are there adequate utilities? Are the elevators large enough? Can the floor loads accommodate medical equipment? Large conference cen- ters and mid- to high-rise hotels are well suited to incorporate health care based on their type of construction and existing life safe- ty systems. n Infection prevention. It is incred- ibly important to prevent the spread of infectious disease within an ACF and maintain patient safe- ty. This means incorporating barri- er zones, separate entry/exit routes for staff and patients, and incor- porating easily sanitized materi- als, including flooring. While some ACFs may house a specific type of patient (as was done during the pandemic), isolation spaces should be built into the plan for any ACF to allow flexibility and resilience. n Patient dignity and staff safety. ACFs should offer patients pri- vacy, comfort and humane care. The design of lighting and noise control can reduce stress for both patients and health care workers. The design of an ACF should also include spaces for staff to decom- press. n Logistical access and pre- identification of sites. Site selec- tion should be reviewed for ease of access for ambulances, supply chains, and medical staff. As we move forward into an uncertain future, it will be imperative to have specific locations targeted to rap- idly mobilize during an emergency. What makes an ACF successful? The success of an ACF often hing- es on tight coordination between architects, engineers, general con- tractors, government agencies and health care providers. Construction teams work under high-pressure conditions, often improvising around site-specific challenges and supply limitations. Here in Colorado, our team helped rapidly transform the Colo- rado Convention Center in April 2020 into a field hospital capable of supporting up to 2,000 Tier 3 (convalescence-level) beds to com- bat the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 18 days, crews installed 1,242 beds, including mechanical systems for up to 766 additional beds, while integrating oxygen piping infra- structure, medical-grade HVAC seg- regation and electrical upgrades. Although it was never necessary to deploy, it provided a psychological safety net and a tabletop-tested infrastructure plan, ready to scale within two weeks. More recently, we helped develop the hotel-to-hospital playbook for disaster preparedness for the National Disaster Medical System in partnership with All Clear Emer- gency Management Group, Martin/ Martin and Cator Ruma & Associ- ates. Included in this project was a plan to convert hotels into 150- bed step-down medical facilities during a pandemic, war or natural disaster. A small demonstration project is underway to prove the concept of turning existing hotels into functioning med-surge-level hospitals, converting guest rooms into isolated patient units, nurse stations, med rooms, supply areas and pharmacy functions. Concepts for low-acuity ICU spaces are also being explored as part of this play- book. The hotel has retained its structural integrity and will revert to hospitality use when the project is concluded. n Conclusion. Alternate care facil- ities are more than just emergency stopgaps; they are a testament to human ingenuity and collabora- tive design. For the architecture, engineering and construction com- Importance of alternate health care facilities grows Emily Johns, AIA Davis Partnership Architects Please see Johns, Page 18