Located in Florence, Alabama, the 485,000-square-foot, 5-story North Alabama Medical Center is a comprehensive 263-bed acute care hospital with connecting 72,000-square-foot medical office building, located on 50 acres. The new $250-million facility is replacing the Eliza Coffee Memorial (ECM) Hospital, home of northwest Alabama’s only full-service heart/cardiac program along with the community’s only open-heart surgery suites and recovery facilities. ECM’s 24-hour emergency department serves as the primary referral center for major trauma cases in northwest Alabama.

The Paragon Airflow Measurement Systems that were provided for the building were critical to improving infection control in patient rooms, surgery/trauma and endo suites and isolation rooms. If these areas are not properly pressurized this could lead to Healthcare Associated Infections for patients, and potential lawsuits for the medical center.
These types of protective environments within a medical center are the biggest energy consumers, but Paragon was able to provide a solution that would properly pressurize the spaces and in turn, assist in building-wide energy savings.