Bethesda Medical Center
The Green Missions Foundation is working with Bethesda Medical Center to raise funds to construct new facilities in Cap Haitien, Haiti. August Green designed the new facilities and donated its design services for planning, architecture, interiors, and landscaping.
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Bethesda was founded as a Christian ministry of One Mission Society in 1961 when nurse, Flo Boyer, saw the suffering of many Haitian people and the lack of healthcare available. Since then, Bethesda has grown, and we are working towards a new purpose-built medical center to meet the growing need. Flo Boyer began to treat patients in a 12x12 building until the first campus buildings were completed in 1965 and 1968.
Since the completion of the original campus, Bethesda Medical Center has served the community well. After many years, the medical center program has outgrown its spaces and has deteriorated. In response to the need for new facilities, Bethesda Medical Center purchased new land for development on the city's outer edge and engaged with August Green to design the new campus. The campus' new location can serve both the city center and the rural areas outside the city. The design team created a campus plan to provide families with safety, food, and shelter while waiting for other family members to complete medical services and treatments.
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The New Bethesda Medical Center will be a shelter for those who seek physical and mental health. The Bethesda Medical Center offers specialized care for HIV Health, TB Health, HIV/TB co-effected Health, Women's Health, Prenatal/Postnatal Care, Pediatric Health, Dental Care, Family Medicine, Radiology, Outpatient Surgery, Physiotherapy, and Emergency Care. The new facilities are composed of earth blocks made from the site. The building form harnesses prevailing winds to provide passive ventilation to interior and exterior spaces shaded by the building's structures and landscaping. In addition, the large interior courtyards provide cool and sheltered spaces for people to wait as seeing the doctors is often an all-day event. To support families who may stay on campus throughout the day, the design team created an outdoor kitchen area with a free community well and an abundance of edible planting throughout the campus. The board and design team envision a new Medical Center known as a place of safety in uncertain times of emergency. Therefore, the building's systems are off-grid and self-sustaining, while the building's structural systems use top and bottom bond beans joined by a basketweave system of supporting steel woven through the earth block walls.
Above Image: Visualization of the future Bethesda Medical Campus.
Present-day Bethesda is overcapacity. Courtyards will incorporate planting, shade, and play areas for families in the new waiting area design.
Present-day environments are dark and lack fresh air. In the design for the new building, interiors will be naturally lit from the skylight while utilizing natural stack ventilation to create fresh and healthy interior environments for patients and staff.
Above Images: Interior views of the Emergency and Maternity Facilities.
Visualization of the new campus entrance.