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New York City Health + Hospitals and Gotham Health partnered to bring a shared vision into three new COVID-19 Centers of Excellence. The overall complexity of the project for JFK&M was placing new MEP systems to comply with Article 28 healthcare requirements for spaces that were designed for another use. The three locations included – a retail space (23,000 SF) in Tremont, an old bank building (52,000 SF) on Broadway and Bushwick in Brooklyn, and at a new residential/community facility building (28,500 SF) in Elmhurst, Queens.

The team met the challenge to update the buildings systems and fit the required equipment in limited, available spaces at each of the locations. This included making updates to existing rooftop equipment, installing emergency generators for additional power, and ensuring exam rooms were outfitted with HEPA filtration. Since the team was designing to meet COVID-19 requirements but without established codes, the team pioneered the design of these COVID spaces with a number of new systems researched and considered for installation into the Centers. Some of those systems included: Electronic Bi-Polar Ionization Filtration Systems and Enhanced UV & PCO Systems for Air Distribution Systems.

The following services and equipment, which are important components for COVID-19 recovery, were included in the programs for the centers:

• Pulmonary care: pulmonary function testing lab, supplemental oxygen and nebulizer treatments, pulmonary rehabilitation
• Radiologic/diagnostic services: chest x-rays, CT scanner, echocardiogram, EKG
• Behavioral health care: mental health professionals addressing anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder
• Medication access: retail pharmacies to carry medications for treatment of COVID-19 symptoms and recovery
• Telehealth: for immediate term in diagnosing and treating the above condition
• Neurology: for neurocognitive deficits due to ICU’s

For each of the centers, design and construction was to originally take place over the course of 14 months, but the centers were actually completed on a more aggressive schedule – within seven months. Today, the three new COVID-19 Centers of Excellence continue to play an essential role in providing on-going comprehensive outpatient primary care services that support recovery.