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In recognition of its environmentally sustainable design, the newly opened Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center has received LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

NewYork-Presbyterian is the first hospital in the Mid-Atlantic region to receive the LEED Gold designation, and one of only six hospitals in the country with a Gold or Platinum designation. The LEED rating system is the industry standard for what constitutes a green building.

"The Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center is proof that an advanced medical facility can be environmentally friendly and energy-efficient," says Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "We are proud to be recognized by U.S. Green Building Council and others for the steps we've taken to support the health of our surrounding communities, including the environment they live in."

The six-story, 142,000-square-foot Milstein Family Heart Center was designed by award-winning architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and daSilva Architects, and constructed by Bovis Lend Lease. Located on Fort Washington Avenue and 165th Street in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, the building opened in February.

Among its many sustainable features, the building's five-story exterior "climate wall" uses sophisticated technology to improve energy efficiency, making the facility 30 percent more energy efficient than a standard structure. The wall consists of an outer and inner glass wall separated by a three-foot ventilated cavity that recovers air from common areas while a state-of-the-art motorized solar shading system reduces glare. The design saves energy by reducing the need for powered cooling and heating and lighting.

The building also uses high-efficiency lighting that automatically shuts on and off depending on whether there is someone in the room; a computerized management system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning; storage and change rooms for bicycle commuters; and an array of environmentally friendly building materials, including post-consumer recycled content.

NewYork-Presbyterian received a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to study how its climate wall performs compared with standard designs. The facility was also recognized by New York Construction Magazine with their 2009 Award of Merit in Health Care.

Practice Greenhealth Awards

NewYork-Presbyterian was honored by Practice Greenhealth — a member organization dedicated to sustainability in health care — at the annual CleanMed conference in Baltimore on May 12. It was the second year running that the Hospital has been honored at the conference. This year the Hospital received five awards, including four Practice Greenhealth "Partner for Change" awards and one "Partner Recognition" award. Each acknowledged the progress the Hospital has made in implementing sustainable practices that reduce the organization's environmental footprint — including a demonstrated increase in waste diversion to recycling, an energy-efficient co-generation plant, and a Hospital-wide staff engagement model called the Green Champions program. NewYork-Presbyterian is a dues-paying member of Practice Greenhealth.

Sustainability at NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian's environmental initiative — NYPgreen — has supported and spearheaded a variety of improvements, including a switch to environmentally friendly cleaning products, recycling, composting, use of hybrid vehicles, construction of buildings certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and sustainable procurement practices. The Hospital has eliminated all mercury devices from its inpatient areas and has drastically reduced the use of products containing the chemicals glutaraldehyde and ethylene oxide. NewYork-Presbyterian is currently participating in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sustainability initiative called PlaNYC Challenge, pledging to decrease carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2018. The Hospital is a five-time winner of the Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR award — the only hospital in the nation to be honored this many times.

For more information, patients may call 866-NYP-NEWS.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,353 beds. The Hospital has more than 1 million inpatient and outpatient visits in a year, including more than 220,000 visits to its emergency departments — more than any other area hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the most comprehensive health care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.