Healthy Interiors in Action: New Partners HealthCare Facility Leads in Implementing Green Product Purchasing
Seventy percent of the 22 million dollars spent on the interior furnishings for the new Partners HealthCare facility met the Healthier Hospitals (HH) guidelines for safer products, marking a significant milestone and a major investment in green product purchases
The new Partners Assembly Row facility is a national model for healthy furnishings in new construction. Built on the site of an old Ford assembly plant in Somerville, Massachusetts, Partners HealthCare Assembly Row Corporate offices occupy 850,000 square feet. Consolidating administrative functions for the health system, more than 4,200 employees will be moved under one roof from 13 different locations throughout the Boston metro area. The building makes use of energy efficient technologies, hosts a 1.25 MW solar array on the rooftop of its parking garage, and is a LEED Gold Version Four candidate.
Natural light floods the open floor plan of the Assembly Row building, as carefully chosen furniture welcomes colleagues and Partners’ guests to take a deep breath and settle into the refreshing space. Developed with a strong commitment to sustainability and resiliency in its design and construction, an impressive 70% of the $22 million spent on interior furnishings for the facility is free of flame retardants, formaldehyde, perflourinated chemicals, and PVC per the HH guidelines.
Partners HealthCare was a founder and one of the first health systems to sign onto the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, a consortium of hospitals and systems across the health sector defining sustainable best practices, driving the development of better products through collective purchasing power, and consequently growing sustainability across the sector.
The Healthier Hospitals Healthy Interiors Goal “ensure[s] that 30% of the annual volume of furnishings and furniture purchases (based on cost) eliminate the use of formaldehyde, perfluorinated compounds, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), antimicrobials, and all flame retardants.”
Monica Nakielski, Senior Program Manager of Sustainability at Partners HealthCare, played a lead role in making sustainability come to life. Managing the sustainability program across the system and its affiliate hospitals, she works with operational leaders to ensure that their strategy and operations have a positive impact on the environment, without negatively influencing patient care, hospital finances, and employee workflow.
“Our focus is health and climate. When we think about our work we want to ensure that we become a leader in promoting a healthy environment, optimizing the care of our patients and the wellbeing of our employees while conserving the resources we expend,” said Monica. “Assembly Row in many ways represents that philosophy. A Harvard study linked green office environments with higher cognitive function scores and we are well aware of the benefits and reduced public health risks when eliminating chemicals of concern.”
Partners made a commitment to chemicals management and removing chemicals of concern has been a priority. One of the big challenges was tackling flame retardants until an organizing campaign convinced Massachusetts to announce in 2014 that they were going to work on amending their fire code. Previously the fire code required the use of toxic flame retardants to meet fire safety standards. With the change, fire safety can be assured without the use of toxic flame retardants.
The Assembly Row project was the first opportunity to purchase flame retardant free furnishings under the new fire code. Monica and John Messervy, Corporate Director of Design and Construction played a role in shifting policies within the City of Boston, testifying at a Boston City Council hearing in favor of eliminating the need for such chemicals within institutional buildings with fire suppression systems.
With this 2016 change to the Boston fire code, Partners was able to streamline its system-wide purchasing of flame-retardant free furnishings when permissible by code. Now the furnishings industry is catching up and eliminating fire retardants on many of their furniture lines.
Early on Monica solicited support across the system to move away from flame retardants by demonstrating the financial benefits as well as the adverse health outcomes. Monica and a partnering vendor looked more deeply into the upcharge of purchasing furnishings containing flame retardants and found cost increases of 20–25%.
“We needed solid facts and analysis to support our conversations with senior leadership” said Monica. The financial argument had a powerful influence in convincing decision makers that the switch was in fact possible for the institution.
From the very start of the Assembly Row project, Monica worked with the designers and architects to conceive a sustainable vision for the building, creating the healthiest environment possible. They considered both the inside of the building and the effect the building will have on the community where Partners operates. The process began by reviewing and assessing what green options were out there and having direct conversations with four furniture manufacturers and close to 40 vendors about which products met their sustainability, style, and financial goals. Once the products were selected, Monica and her team verified that the products were in fact what the producers and manufacturers said they were offering. For each sample they considered they often had to decode different test methods and certifications to ensure that specific chemicals were not present. “We were fortunate in the Fall of 2014 and the Spring of 2015 that all of these vendors and manufacturers were well aware of the market trends and changes that were happening within the evolving furniture market,” said Monica. “The vendors we worked with were pioneers within this area and had experience sourcing products that did not contain certain chemicals of concern.”
The shift in the market happened in large part due to the growing network of hospitals and health care institutions connected through Health Care Without Harm and Healthier Hospitals that are committed to using their purchasing power to influence the market to move toward greener options. Relationships with other like minded institutions such as University Hospitals, Advocate, and Kaiser Permanente have been key for Monica’s learning and motivation with the Assembly Row project.
Implementing this project was not without its challenges. When asking vendors to complete the Partners chemicals management template used to verify the chemical content of furnishings, Monica saw early on that many vendors were often filling out information incorrectly, misunderstanding questions or were not familiar with the correct chemical testing methodology. She took it upon herself to speak with each vendor and walk them through the methodology, viewing the experience as a learning process from which she could garner understanding for future projects as well as for sharing with peers within the healthcare industry.
“It is very important to collaborate,” said Monica. “Where we were in our process was very much a team effort in that our colleagues at other HHI hospitals and within Health Care Without Harm would share their information and lessons learned, I would use it and apply to our culture, supply chain, and share what we had learned. This partnership furthered all of our efforts and continues today beyond chemicals management into other facets of our sustainability work.”
Reflecting on the example Assembly Row could have on the healthcare industry, Monica said that she hopes it encourages others to take steps towards integrating the Healthy Interiors goal into their institution as well.
“For those who are maybe unsure of where to start, recognize that there are others out there who are doing this. You can reach out to us for help,” said Monica. “Through our collective efforts — like the elimination of mercury in medical devices, the reduction of waste incinerators, smoking cessation programs — this will lead to a reduction of these chemicals of concern, not just in our environment but in the communities we serve and in the supply chains we purchase through.”
Helaine Alon provides communications support for the Health Care Without Harm Safer Chemicals team. Health Care Without Harm seeks to transform the health sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it becomes ecologically sustainable and a leading advocate for environmental health and justice.
