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As communities across the country race to expand available hospital bed space in response to COVID-19, an American Institute of Architects (AIA) taskforce is providing the COVID-19 Alternate Care Sites Assessment Tool for public officials to quickly identify buildings suitable to be adapted for patient care.
The tool provides a checklist highlighting important areas to consider when evaluating buildings, such as convention centers, sports arenas, community centers, hotels, dormitories, and other spaces to be used for temporary healthcare operations during a pandemic. The tool is intended to help individuals—who are not healthcare design experts—with a rapid evaluation of buildings compatible for supporting patient care operations while providing for the needs and safety of healthcare staff and patients and mitigating the spread of disease.
“This tool is geared toward flexible and rapid decision-making during a public health pandemic,” said taskforce chair Molly Scanlon, FAIA, FACHA, who is an environmental health scientist at Phigenics. “Our goal was to synthesize decades of healthcare knowledge and experience into a checklist reflecting the key essential elements of healthcare operations to reduce risk and increase safety at an alternative care site.”
The taskforce developed the tool using healthcare design best practices and standards in combination with federal documents issued during the COVID-19 crisis. Additionally, professional input was provided from trained and experienced healthcare architects, engineers, life-safety consultants, frontline health workers, and hospital facility operations. Click here to find a comprehensive briefing of the taskforce’s initiatives.
Earlier this month, the taskforce launched an online resource to facilitate sharing of built environment solutions when responding to COVID-19 surge capacity. As part of the effort, architects, designers, engineers, and facility managers are asked to provide project information and images of COVID-19 alternate care sites into an online database. The facility and its location will appear on an online global map produced and quality controlled by the University of Kansas’ Institute of Health + Wellness Design. The taskforce developed the tool to catalog current public health and healthcare facility response and to create a research database for future pandemics.
AIA’s taskforce was launched to support the COVID-19 response. It comprises architects with a wide range of expertise, including healthcare facility design, urban design, public health, and disaster assistance.
