Buildings Award of Excellence
Unité de Stérilisation Mobile pour le CISSS des Laurentides gbi
L
e Centre Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CISSS) des Laurentides selected gbi to design Quebec’s first mobile medical device reprocessing unit, a first in Quebec. The project included an installation at l’Hôpital de Mont-Laurier, followed by a move and an installation at l’Hôpital de Saint-Jérôme.
Logistical challenges The number of modules had to be reduced to ensure the mobility of the 1,600-sf unit. (In a hospital, a URDM usually occupies 2,500 to 3,000 sf.) The layout was designed to limit the piping and equip30
CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEER
ment having to cross the joints in the mechanical room. Electrification also posed a logistical challenge. With part of the roof and a false ceiling being separate modules, the conduits could not run to junction boxes vertically. So, a horizontal band was reserved at the top. Each of the ducts stops before the vertical joint where a box is installed. This allows the wiring to be rolled up and limits access traps. The mobile unit offered a more economical solution than renting temporary, safe, suitable spaces for sterilization or bringing over a trailer from the U.S. with the same types of systems (and which would not necessarily be adapted to local operating methods). During the unit’s first stop in Mont-Laurier, more than 10,000 medical devices were sterilized and reprocessed. The unit’s components will probably be used for at least 15 years.
Unité de stérilisation mobile pour le CISSS des Laurentides, Mont-Laurier, Que. Award-winning firm (mechanical/electrical engineer): gbi, Montreal (Alexandre Blain, P.Eng.; Alexandre Desmeules-Gagnon, P.Eng.; Sahar Benalem, P.Eng; Louis Mercier-Desjardins, CPI). Owner: Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) des Laurentides. Other key players: CDLL Architectes (architecture), DWB Consultants (structural engineering), Getinge (washer-decontaminators and sterilizers), Class1 (air compressor instrumentation), Spirax Sarco (vapour exchanger and components).
September/October 2022
PHOTO COU RT E SY G B I
Flexibility and compatibility The project involved fitting out sterilization equipment to increase capacity for hospitals that lack sufficient space or during repairs. The mandate included installing the mobile unité de retraitement des dispositifs médicaux (URDM) at two such hospitals. It was necessary to ensure flexibility and compatibility for the building’s components. Flange joints were installed on the piping, at the intersection of each module, for protection during the move. Pure water and instrumentation air were produced inside the unit to current standards for quality and pressure, respectively. A ventilation unit was installed, capable of ensuring a high level of dehumidification and a high air-conditioning (A/C) load. Relative humidity is particularly important in a sterile area; if it rises above 60%, medical devices may need to be re-sterilized. And most medical appliances generate steam in large quantities. The direction of the airflow was also an important issue. Its tightness had to allow the circulation of sterile to clean to dirty air. Therefore, the only connections to the building are for drainage, domestic water supply, steam and electricity with a general point provided for control and fire alarm. The team decided to install an addressable alarm system with connection points to the existing building via addressable transmission and control modules, so the unit could connect to any panel in a flexible and mobile fashion. The independent control panel is supervised by a binary signal (general alarm), while the controller with display, also independent, is inside the unit.
