Hospital offers rooms for patients with electrical & chemical accommodations

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hospital offers rooms for patients with MCS and environmental illness

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After much effort, the

<http://www.d-k-h.de/>Agaplesion Diakonie

Hospital in Hamburg, Germany has designed two

rooms for people with MCS and multiple allergies.

For many years, local support groups have worked

tirelessly to try to integrate environmentally

controlled hospital rooms in the hospital. For

the first time ever, it is possible for people

who suffer from environmental illnesses or severe

allergies to be in a hospital for medical

treatment which is tailored to their health issues.

Environmental rooms for MCS, the environmentally

ill, and multiple allergic patients

Since February 2011, with the move into the newly

built Agaplesion DIAKONIE Medical Center in

Hamburg (formerly the hospitals, Old Oaks, and

Bethany Elim), for the first time, a hospital has

<http://csn-deutschland.de/Umweltzimmer_im_Krankenhaus.pdf>two

special pollutant free rooms prepared for those

with environmental allergies, and MCS patients.

The special environmental rooms have been built

with much care. They consist of a single and a

double room. Both rooms are connected by a

vestibule from the other station areas separated

so that chemical-sensitive patients do not come

in contact with the usual hospital chemicals and

fragrances from other patients.

Medical treatment, surgery, obstetrics

The Agaplesion Clinic offers the two

environmental rooms which have been specially

prepared for the treatment of patients in the

medical environment including the following

hospital departments in the with an integrated spectrum:

* Internal Medicine

* Geriatrics (geriatric medicine)

* Diabetes

* Surgery, Hand Surgery, Plastic Surgery

* Gynecology, Obstetrics

* Orthopedics

* Anasthesia, Intensive Care

Criteria for inclusion in Environmental Room

There is a briefing which takes place through a

doctor or the emergency room. During the first

contact a message states that the patient wants a

shot in the environmental room. The Agaplesion

Clinic requires patients have medical evidence

showing

<http://www.csn-deutschland.de/DIMDI_MCS_2008_de-en.pdf>MCS

(multiple chemical sensitivity), environmental

allergies / intolerance (allergy multi-) and / or

a present a chronic intoxication in the patient.

A MCS and / or allergy passport is also useful to

explain the need for inclusion in a special room environment.

Core Unit of the Environment Room

Rooms in conventional hospitals are not suitable

for chemically sensitive patients. In general,

the wards have PVC flooring and particleboard

furniture. The environmental rooms in the

Agaplesion Clinic have given much effort to

create a plan that recognizes the needs of MCS

sufferers with good air quality issues. The two

environmental rooms were built with the low

emission of air pollutants / safe building

materials and furnishings, to ensure the safety for hypersensitive patients.

Some examples of the special features of the environmental room:

* Walls and ceilings with running Fermacell Green Line plates

* Massive exterior walls are lime

* Walls and ceilings painted with lime paint

* Rooms are equipped with a wall heater

* Floor is made of ceramic tiles.

* Window and door frames are insulated with hemp

* Doors are made of glass

* Exposure to electromagnetic fields has been

reduced, including through the installation of power circuit breakers

* Furniture is made of enamel, metal, or stainless steel

The clinic staff shall ensure low-emission patient care:

* Attention is given to see if there are

fragrance-containing and damaging products in patient vicinity.

* Patients are asked about their possible

food intolerances to allergies, to drugs,

disinfectants, medicines and anesthetics.

* A dietitian takes into account the patients’ food intolerances

* At the medical station information is

summarized, and this can be viewed at any time by medical staff.

* The staff of the station is working

together very closely with the support group

„environmental illnesses MCS + CFS.”

* The room environment is cleaned with

fragrance free detergents, but a disinfecting

cleaning is essential to neutralize odors, so the

patient is offered the use of effective microorganisms (EM 1).

* When necessary, patients may bring their

own food which is kept in a refrigerator at the

door. A kettle is also available there.

* The bedding of the entire hospital is

fragrance-free but these patients are permitted to bring their own bedding.

Special measures for the benefit of environmental patients

* The use of fragrance-free and low-polluting

products is offered to patients and their visitors

* The use of cell phones and smoking are not permitted in this area

* Living together requires all patients in

the environmental room practice understanding, respect and helpfulness

Hospital life – side note

Important information for environmental patients

and their physicians, that the Agaplesion Clinic

is a hospital and not an environmental clinic. In

a hospital procedures are regulated and special

requests cannot be met. The Agaplesion Clinic

breaks new ground by providing the two

environmental rooms. The employees are trained on

MCS and environmental illness, but they are

dependent on cooperation between the patients, so

that a smooth clinical work can be guaranteed.

Perhaps at first patients won’t have the highest

satisfaction, but patients should be

understanding and possibly contribute

constructive suggestions for improvement since

this is the first attempt at providing

environmentally safe rooms in a hospital. It is

important for patients with chemical sensitivity

(MCS) to realize that this is a new development

at the clinic. For those with

hyper-sensitivities, a stay at the hospital,

despite careful selection of materials, initially

may be fraught with problems because of outgassing and ecological matters.

The Chemically Sensitive are thankful for their commitment

The MCS support groups in Hamburg, which for

years pursued the goal of a “MCS-friendly

hospital room in a hospital” give hearty thanks

and appreciation to the doctors, hospital

planners, architects and government agencies that

were involved in this project. All the best and

much success for the safe environment in the new

rooms at the Agaplesion Clinic!

Author: Silvia K. Müller, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, 1 March 2011

Translation: Christi Howarth

Literature:

Agaplesion Diakonie Hospital

Hamburg,<http://csn-deutschland.de/Umweltzimmer_im_Krankenhaus.pdf>

newsletter: environmental rooms for MCS patients

and the environment / multiple allergies, January 2011

Contact:

Agaplesion DIAKONIE Hospital Hamburg

Hohe Weide 17, 20259 Hamburg, Germany, Tel: (040)

7 90 20 – 0, Fax (040) 7 90 20 – 10 79, E-mail:

info@..., Internet: <http://www.d-k-h.de/>www.dkh.de

Further CSN articles about MCS:

*

<http://www.csn-deutschland.de/blog/en/study-could-not-confirm-link-between-ment\

al-illness-and-chemical-sensitivity/>Study

could not confirm link between mental illness and chemical sensitivity

*

<http://www.csn-deutschland.de/blog/en/brain-dysfunction-in-mcs-multiple-chemica\

l-sensitivity/>Brain

dysfunction in MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

*

<http://www.csn-deutschland.de/blog/en/research-on-multiple-chemical-sensitivity\

-mcs/>Research

on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)

*

<http://www.csn-deutschland.de/blog/en/a-politically-inconvenient-illness/>A

politically inconvenient illness