HILLSBORO, Ore. — Kaiser Permanente is months away from opening the first new hospital in Washington County in 40 years, but on Wednesday, leaders of the health management organization gathered in Hillsboro to celebrate a major milestone.
The Westside Medical Center, the $344 million facility set to open in August, is a certified LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — Gold building. Officials said it’s the first LEED Gold hospital in the metro area.
“Hospitals use a tremendous amount of energy,” said Willy Paul, executive director of Kaiser’s national facilities services northwest. Kaiser officials said the building will save 6.5 million gallons of water per year and cuts energy costs by 27 percent.
Kaiser is extremely proud of the complex, Paul told employees and people associated with the construction of the 126-bed building.
Paul rattled off various design features: low-emitting carpet, wood-composite insulation, on-site renewable energy components such as retention water tanks and a completely energy-independent parking facility.
Pursuing the LEED certification, a rigid set of environmental and sustainable criteria analyzed by a third party, cost the company another $2 million, Paul said.
Kaiser recouped some of those costs through Energy Trust of Oregon rebates, Paul said, and thanks to the drop in overall construction and material costs due to the economic downtown.
The result, he said, is the first of Kaiser’s 37 hospitals nationwide that captures all of the sustainability and design features Kaiser intended, finally rolled into one building.
The hospital is expected to open in August; the Westside Medical Center’s medical offices will open within two to three weeks.
