The COVID-19 pandemic has forced assisted living, skilled care and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) to redefine their daily operations and facilities alike to minimize the risk of COVID-19 spread throughout their facilities both from internal and external risks.
Residents living in these facilities who require renal dialysis can be a significant risk to themselves, the other residents and staff within a facility if they must travel outside of the facility to an independent clinic 3 days per week for hours at a time to receive hemodialysis treatments.
Many senior living facilities are (or should be) planning to bring hemodialysis treatments directly to the resident or patient within the facility. However, to successfully incorporate an in-house renal dialysis treatment area within an existing facility, several factors must be considered.
Type of Dialysis Equipment
Variations of dialysis equipment could have differing utility requirements but also come with first cost and long-term operational costs that should be fully understood before implementing a plan.
Domestic Water
Water flow rates and more importantly pressure in these facilities are often not adequate without modification of the water service or mechanical pressure boosting.
Electrical Service
Dialysis equipment often require dedicated circuits and could impact the overall electrical service capacity required of the facility.
HVAC
Depending on the locality of the facility, modifications to the system air changes per hour for both total supply air and ventilation may be required to operate any space as a dialysis unit.
Space Planning
Adequate space planning for dialysis equipment rooms and spaces.
Barton Associates is uniquely qualified for these types of projects as we have completed over 100 dialysis facilities in the last 6 years, both renovation and new construction. If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Michael Jacobs, PE at (717) 982-1589 or maj@ba-inc.com.