The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) selected 16 hospitals and health centers in seven Caribbean countries to make them safer, greener and more resilient to natural disasters, under the framework of the Smart Health Care Facilities Project, an initiative backed by UKaid, the UK Department for International Development.

The project is being financially supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and implemented through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Department in partnership with the Ministry of Health in each target country.

Health facilities were selected by PAHO after analyzing the safety situation of nearly 350 hospitals and health centers, and their likelihood of continuing to function in disasters.

They include the La Plaine Clinic in Dominica; The Princess Alicia Hospital in Granada; The Chateaubelair Hospital in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and the Comfort Bay nursing home in St. Lucia.

In addition, interventions will be carried out at 12 health centers in Saint Lucia to improve disaster resilience, and to save energy and water. The selection of facilities that will be part of the project in Jamaica, Guyana and Belize is still in process.

It is expected that by 2020, more than 600 hospitals and health facilities will be evaluated and 50 will be transformed to be safer and more environmentally friendly under the project, whose budget amounts to just over 38 million pounds, or 49 million dollars.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, seven out of ten hospitals are located in areas at high risk of disasters, which can leave them out of service in the event of a hurricane, earthquake or flood.

“By becoming ‘smart hospitals’, selected health centers will lower operating costs, reduce risks that can occur in case of disasters, and protect the environment,” said Dana Van Alphen, PAHO project coordinator.

A health facility is considered ‘smart’ when it combines structural and operational safety with environmentally friendly interventions with a reasonable cost-benefit ratio.

In ‘green’ hospitals, air quality improves, staff work under more favorable conditions, and costs for energy and water consumption decrease. These benefits also affect the decision of the people to go to health centers.

As part of the initiative, participating hospitals are expected to reinforce roofs and windows so they will not be damaged when there are hurricanes.

They also work on installing water tanks to collect rainwater for services, laundry and gardens, as well as to install solar panels, provide accessibility for people with disabilities, use LED bulbs that consume less energy and replace old air conditioning equipment with more efficient models. It is important in health facilities across the world like these to have updated equipment to provide a comfortable environment for patients. So whether they need ac replacement or ac installation in the Los Angeles area or they need one in the Caribbean, research is a fundamental factor to ensure proper protocols for whichever facility needs it.

The initiative builds on the Smart Project, which began as a pilot in 2012 and improved structural safety and reduced energy and water use in hospitals in Georgetown in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Pogson in Saint Kitts and Nevis.

In this second phase, which began in 2015, in addition to analyzing the safety situation of nearly 350 hospitals and health centers in seven countries, PAHO trained more than 200 people from various sectors – construction, public officials, private sector – in energy and water conservation, use of the Smart toolkit, and contingencies for health facilities.

The project is currently ready to commence refurbishment work at selected facilities.