Patients Learn Earth-Friendly Tips from N.B. Construction Firm

Earth Day has come and gone, but patients at CHOC Children's Hospital may be thinking a little greener today, thanks to a local construction firm.

In celebration of Earth Day, employees from the Newport Beach-based McCarthy Building Cos. spent some time recently with patients at CHOC Children's Hospital in Orange and gave them a firsthand lesson on preserving the environment.

Eugenio Acosta, the construction firm's project manager, said employees have been working on the hospital's Children’s Patient Care Tower II and organized the event to provide an educational and therapeutic event for the hospitalized children.

"About six years ago, McCarthy was building a tower for St. Joseph Hospital adjacent to CHOC Children’s Hospital, and our construction team noticed children peering down from their hospital room windows at the construction activity below,” Acosta said. “It means the world to us to be able to engage the patients in a meaningful activity and help provide a fun distraction during their hospital stay."

 During the event, volunteers from McCarthy had patients decorate a clay flowerpot with spring stickers to symbolize the healing gardens in the new tower and decorate reusable lunch bags to hold the crafts, which symbolized the reduce, reuse and recycle motto McCarthy follows at the construction site.

The environmentally friendly tower is expected to be completed in December 2012 and will be equipped with pediatric surgical suites, emergency, laboratory, pathology, imaging and radiology services. McCarthy says that during the construction period, it will minimize unrecyclable construction waste, maintain proper indoor air quality, filter storm water/runoff, make sure subcontractors install the specified “green” materials and reduce paper waste. 

The CHOC Children’s Construction Zone Patient Activity Program was conceived by the McCarthy Heart Hats, a volunteer community outreach group led by the employees of McCarthy Building Cos.