Case of Perfect Timing for South Carolina Healthcare Facility
October 23, 2015
When the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston relocated all of its critical equipment to a energy plant on the campus, the reasoning was to protect the equipment from flooding that could knock out power to the facility, shutdown the facility and cause another, more harrowing relocation process — of patients.
Well, the timing for the $40 million project could not have been better. Thanks to heavy rains early in October, more than 17 inches of rain dumped on the Charleston area, leaving dramatic flood issues all over the state.
The critical components stayed safe and secure from floodwaters, says David Dement, the facility’s director of facilities and maintenance, who enjoyed some easier days despite the 1,000-year-rains.
“We experienced flooding with exceptionally high tides and excessive rains,” Dement says. “However, because of the project we had no utility system issues and moreover no concern that they were going to be at risk. This is significantly different than before when we would have to expend a great deal of effort to install flood doors and sandbags to protect infrastructure systems.”
The medical university was the recipient of a 2015 Facility Maintenance Decisions Achievement Award. You can read more about their
entry here.
Look for Dave Lubach’s Talking Points column on the South Carolina facility in the November/December issue of FMD.
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