UCI Health Making History With Nation’s First All-Electric Acute Care Hospital

UCI Health is poised to make history this December when it opens UCI Health ― Irvine, the nation’s first all-electric acute care hospital.

The 144-bed facility, situated next to the serene San Joaquin Marsh, will merge high technology with thoughtful design that incorporates the outdoors to promote comfort and healing for all who enter.

Joe Brothman, director of UCI Health General Services, spoke to CBS News about how the innovative, first-of-its-kind facility is different.

“This building is different from a traditional medical center in that we don’t use any carbon fuels for our normal operations," Brothman says. "All of the electricity we use is either generated onsite or procured through sustainable sources.”

The healthcare sector is responsible for 8.5% of all carbon emissions. UCI Health is committed to minimizing its impact on the environment across all of its facilities, says UCI Health emergency medicine physician Dr. Ryan Gibney, the medical director of the emergency department at the new hospital.

“We have solar on the roof, we’re using recycled water. We’re really being intentional about our impact to this area being as little as possible so we can deliver the highest level of healthcare with minimal impact to the place around us,” Dr. Gibney says. 

Read the full news brief in UCI Health.