by Brianna Crandall — November 14, 2016 — While performing extensive renovations to Inova Health System’s Fair Oaks (Virginia) Hospital, Clark Construction Group has to balance its construction work with the hospital’s need to maintain 24/7 operations. Renovations to the hospital’s surgical and patient care areas require a temporary wall system to separate the medical and construction areas, since any construction, renovation and repair activities in hospitals and health-care facilities can create or disturb particles, causing them to become aerosolized and potentially spread dangerous healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs).
Keeping the hospital’s clinical services available requires several hundred linear feet of temporary infection control partitions to be built and removed for several phases in order to make it as difficult as possible for microorganisms to survive, or, at the very least, to eliminate their presence in environments where immuno-compromised patients reside.
Edge Guard wall panel system can be assembled and disassembled by virtually any project team member with almost no tools and minimal waste, and it integrates ICRA barrier requirements including pressure monitoring, notices, security and filtration.
Wanting something more efficient than the traditional costly drywall system, Clark’s superintendent identified the Edge Guard wall panel system that could be assembled and disassembled by virtually any project team member with almost no tools and minimal waste. With gaskets along the edges of the panels for effective sealing, the system also integrates ICRA barrier requirements, including pressure monitoring, notices, security and filtration.
The selection of the Edge Guard wall panel system is allowing the construction team to easily build and deconstruct barriers in sensitive areas — nearly any member of the team can assemble the panel walls in a matter of hours with only a ladder — and the system can quickly be reconfigured as necessary, providing for greater patient protection.
The Clark team will renovate 29,000 square feet of the existing hospital, including the post-anesthesia care unit, sterile processing area, pre-operation area, operating rooms, surgery locker room, and waiting areas. The team also will demolish a chiller plant and construct a new two-story surgery department expansion, adding 26,000 square feet and additional operating rooms to the existing hospital. Additionally, the team will construct two temporary loading docks to use during construction and relocate the hospital’s air handler unit from the ground floor to the roof.
When the Inova Fair Oaks renovation work is complete, the Edge Guard wall panel system will come down and be used on another project. A video of the Edge Guard Dust Free Barrier System is available on YouTube.
