As a facility manager of a healthcare facility or hospital, you have more than your fair share of worries.
From heavy traffic in and out of your facility daily to managing interior building issues while dealing with numerous health care staff and patients, it’s easy for your hospital landscaping to fall to the bottom of your to-do list.
But a well-maintained health care facility is incredibly important to keeping that traffic flow smooth, ensuring patients can easily and safely get where they need to be on time. This keeps the doctors, nurses, and other health care staff efficient and focused, continuing to offer the best care.
For the Summa Health System, increasing government regulations and competing local hospital systems meant they had to cut costs. They wanted to partner with a hospital landscaping services company that could use LEAN Management techniques, help save them money, and still provide them with well-maintained grounds.
Hospital Landscaping Challenges
When it comes to hospital landscaping, you want a proactive approach that includes exactly what your commercial property needs, but doesn’t break the budget to do so.
You want a landscape company that can provide ideas and solutions that embrace LEAN Management techniques, which are taken from Toyota manufacturing and focus on reducing waste and making continuous improvements.
Summa Health System is a patient-centered health management organization based in the Akron, Ohio area. The company approached Turfscape about its challenges and pain points to see if they could provide viable solutions that would meet their needs and not cost them more.
Health Care Facility Landscaping Solutions
Turfscape came in with creative solutions for Summa Health System, that includes more efficient use of equipment, alternative means of communication for the large company, as well as taking a fresh look at their sites to improve hospital landscaping aesthetics but also reduce maintenance costs.
Here are the ideas they came up with that helps save Summa money and improve their property’s overall health and safety.
Adding An On-Site Groundskeeper
Summa Health System is a very large organization with multiple locations, which can be hard for a facility manager to oversee. Having additional eyes is helpful.
Turfscape appointed an on-site groundskeeper to patrol the hospital landscaping grounds on every one of their properties daily.
This results in a cleaner outdoor appearance because the groundskeeper can immediately handle trash or maintenance issues. This also ensures the groundskeeper can alert off-site Summa property managers to any safety hazards that arise so they don’t linger or cause additional issues.
Rock Beds Reduce Maintenance
An expanse of turf brings some great green color to a commercial landscape, but it also requires regular maintenance, especially mowing and trimming during the growing season. Sometimes salt damage in the winter can also occur on turf, which adds to those maintenance tasks.
Turfscape removed some turf at Summa facilities and replaced those areas with neat rock beds to reduce maintenance costs for the company, yet maintain an attractive hospital landscaping image.
The Power of Perennials
Annuals can add pops of colors to a commercial landscape throughout the growing season for color, interest and variety.
But there is a cost associated with installing and maintaining that regular color in health care facility landscaping, especially when you have multiple properties to maintain. Annuals also require more water, which adds to those costs.
One way to have some color at a health care facility is to use perennials that only need to be installed once and, after planting, require less maintenance than annuals annually.
Dormant Pruning Techniques
The service of aggressively pruning during the winter rejuvenates the health and vitality of trees and shrubs, extending their lives.
By performing this hospital landscaping service for Summa Health System, Turfscape saved them the expense of having to replace older, damaged plant materials.
Bringing In An Arborist
Some landscape professionals partner with other businesses to add to their expertise and services. Turfscape partners with a local tree company in this way to provide extensive tree care services when necessary.
Their arborist did crown pruning of Summa’s pin oaks to extend their lives and improve their images on the company’s properties. Removing dead or dying branches not only improves the appearance of the hospital grounds, but it also helps prevent building damage from dead limbs falling, decreasing overall safety hazards.
Water Management Solutions
Water can cost commercial facilities a lot, particularly when it’s being wasted. Unfortunately, irrigation systems can regularly cause problems when they are running during rain storms or their schedules aren’t changed or optimized to match climate conditions.
By having Turfscape crews onsite daily, they can monitor irrigation systems on Summa’s multiple properties, helping them save money and the environment by keeping water use in check. Crews can also manually water any plant materials that need it since they are seeing the sites on a regular basis. This improves hospital landscaping and saves time and money for Summa.
Communication Improvements
Having one point of contact that is intimately familiar with the daily goings-on at a commercial facility is crucial.
For Summa specifically, this enables Summa property managers to focus on other job priorities because they have a trusted partner on their sites daily to alert them to any issues.
This increased awareness of problems helps Summa professionals manage them without dealing with additional headaches or hassles. The increased communication also gives Summa professionals peace of mind because their sites not only appear cleaner, but are also safer overall.
The Impact of Great Hospital Landscaping Services
Turfscape has been working with Summa Health Systems for more than 10 years.
The company loves the partnership and communication they receive to help them keep up their site aesthetics while helping them maintain their budget.
The strong working relationship the duo have formed today even goes beyond the health and appearance of their grounds. They give back to the community together through Summa’s Annual Fundraiser Ball, where Turfscape adopts a nearby property as part of the Keep Akron Beautiful initiative that supports breast cancer awareness.
Just like Summa Health System, your health care facility landscaping may need some attention to improve the property’s look and safety for employees, patients, and visitors.
But maybe you also have a lot on your plate, and you don’t have time to micromanage a landscape company or worry about whether your facility is being neglected by the service provider you choose.
We understand. You’re busy and your time is valuable. Let Turfscape help. We can discuss your priorities and build a relationship of trust with you so you feel like we’re really listening to you and your needs. We can proactively share impactful ideas with you to boost areas of your property that you didn’t even know needed attention.
Want to learn more about our hospital landscaping services in Northeast Ohio? Get started today with a free quote. We’ll review your options together so you can make a great choice.
