VCU Medical Center begins public elevator replacement project

By Michael Ford
University News Services

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is replacing its elevators and is using the opportunity to promote employee fitness by encouraging employees to take "steps to better health."

The first elevators to be renovated will be in Main and North hospitals. Plans call for taking one public elevator out of service in each building for about 45 days. Over the next 18 months the process will be repeated to include Nelson Clinic and the A.D. Williams Building and will continue until all the elevators are replaced.

Hospital officials are hoping to combine the renovations with an effort to encourage employee fitness and save the elevators for visitors and guests. Called "Two up ...Three down ... Steps to Better Health," the campaign urges employees to use the stairs to travel up two flights or fewer, and to take the stairs again when traveling down three or fewer flights.

"First and foremost, it is good customer service to consider the needs of our patients and visitors and to give them preferential use of the public elevators," said Darrell Johnson, vice president for Administration and Support Services with the VCU Health System. "Utilizing the stairs will us save time and we get a health benefit too. Studies have shown that stair climbing, even just two flights during the course of a day, can lead to improved health."

Johnson has drawn on the resources of Ted Batt, director of cultural programs for the VCU Health System, to place informational signs near the elevators, in the stairwells and along the primary traffic corridors in the hospital.

"The signs promote the campaign, but also provide encouragement," Johnson said.

The elevator renovations in Main and North Hospitals are expected to be completed by October 2005.