Largest Hospital Expansion in South Carolina History Uses Commercial Lighting from Current 

Lexington Medical Center is a 438-bed hospital in West Columbia, South Carolina. It anchors a health care network that includes three community medical centers, two primary care centers, the largest skilled nursing facility in the Carolinas, an Alzheimer’s care center and more than 70 physician practices. The hospital employs more than 6,500 health care professionals and has cardiovascular and oncology care affiliated with Duke Health. It operates one of the busiest Emergency departments in South Carolina, treating approximately 85,000 patients each year, and it is one of the busiest surgical hospitals in the state, performing more than 20,000 surgeries last year.

The need to expand the footprint of its West Columbia campus was evident with population growth in the region and, at 545,000 square feet, the three-year project was the largest hospital expansion in South Carolina history. With this significant expansion, Lexington Medical Center would meet the health care needs of its community for years to come. Added to the campus was the new patient care tower, surface parking, a four-story, 950-space parking garage and a 63,000-square-foot central utility building.

This project demonstrates how Current Lighting meets the challenges of complex health care environments with innovative solutions that provide leading performance, architectural appearance and rugged durability. By utilizing experienced engineering, robust testing and the latest manufacturing techniques, the portfolio of products Current Lighting can offer appeals to the needs of the varied stakeholders – patients, healthcare staff, facility management and contractors.

In this application, the suite of products from Current Lighting contribute to Lexington Medical Center’s ability to meet the lighting standards and performance metrics dictated for specific areas, including the Recommended Practice (RP-29) Lighting for Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities. Besides addressing light levels, the team evaluated lighting standards related to components affecting the quality of light, such as color rendering index (CRI), correlated color temperature, and kelvin temperature.

It was all done by meeting the need for “design consistency” in specific areas as mandated by the architect.

New Tower Lighting

The new tower was built to accommodate medical, critical care and surgical patients. It features patient rooms, operating rooms, educational space for staff and community members, enhanced dining options, Labor and Delivery, and Mother/Baby departments. The project also included the expansion and addition of support spaces, such as a physician on-call area, indoor and outdoor dining options, and an education conference center.

Patient Rooms, Hallways and Nurses Stations

The MOD™ 4L LED Recessed Slot from Litecontrol is being used to provide critical task lighting in the nurses stations. These fixtures can be dimmed when necessary.

The DLC® Premium Qualified LCAT from Columbia Lighting is being used in many areas throughout the entire footprint of the facility. It provides both design and value with its architectural appearance, high efficiency acrylic lens, projected life and exceptional CRI. LCAT is featured prominently in the hallways of all the patient floors. 

NX Distributed Intelligence™ Specialty Switch Stations (NXSW-ORLO) from Current Control Solutions provide nurses and staff with manual control of the lighting system. These switches are capable of independently controlling different groups  or lighting loads such as the nurses station or hallway lights. This provides nurses with the flexibility to to adjust light levels based on the time of day or task that is being performed in the space. The NX switch stations can also be programmed to not exceed a certain minimum in order to maintain enough light to adhere to emergency lighting standards. 

Baby Nursery Lighting

Welcoming more than 3,300 babies each year, the hospital is consistently recognized as one of the best maternity hospitals in South Carolina. The lighting in the Labor and Delivery, and Mother/Baby departments focused on an creating a pleasant working environment.

The MOD™ 3L LED Surface Direct and the MOD™ 4L LED Wall Indirect/Direct from Litecontrol are both used in many of these special patient rooms to enhance the experience for expectant families. The LF4 from Prescolite is the downlight in these areas.

Special Care Nursery Suites

One of the notable features of the new patient care tower is the 20-bed Level II Special Care Nursery.

The tiniest patients have private rooms, which is a new model of care for Lexington Medical Center. Research demonstrates private rooms for special care infants provide more bonding opportunities for mothers and their babies, offer a safe environment for education, lead to better outcomes for babies’ growth and lower infection rates. Lighting has a critical role in enhancing the patient experience in these areas.

The MOD™ 3L LED Surface Direct and the MOD™ 4L LED Wall Indirect/Direct from Litecontrol are both used in many of these special patient rooms to enhance the experience for expectant families. The LF4 from Prescolite is the downlight in these areas.

Atrium Lighting

The welcoming lobby of the new tower makes a significant statement with 45-foot ceilings, split-level views and floor-to-ceiling windows. With the optimal performance of the MD8LED from Prescolite connected to the NX Distributed Intelligence network, the ideal combination of dimming capabilities are achieved.

Lighting for Education Classrooms

The new tower features 11 classrooms/conference rooms, including a 2,572-square-foot room with seating for 200. The MOD™ 4L LED Recessed Slot from Litecontrol is used in these classrooms.

Cafeteria Lighting

The DLC® Premium rated LXEM from Columbia is used in the cold storage refrigerators and freezers. The LXEM is a multi-functional enclosed LED product that serves rugged to severe conditions as well as food service areas. The product family is offered in two, four- and eight-foot lengths with lumen packages ranging from 2,000 to 22,000 lumens and efficacy up to 143 Lumens per Watt.

Additional Areas

The MOD™ 4L LED Recessed Slot from Litecontrol and the LF4 from Prescolite are used as the primary lighting source in many of the new tower’s walkways, hallways and lobbies.

The Soft cove lighting provides a pleasant experience in the bathrooms.

Throughout the facility, the SE Series from Dual-Lite is being used to keep occupants safe while maintaining intended design consistency.

Parking Deck Lighting

A new parking garage adds more than 950 parking spaces to the hospital’s main campus. The ceiling mounted PGL7 from KIM Lighting is used on each level to improve illumination and uniformity while reducing glare that can significantly affect vehicular traffic and pedestrian safety. Viper from Beacon Products is used on the parking facility’s top level and surrounding surface lots.

All of the fixtures used in the parking deck are equipped with SiteSync™ lighting control from Current Control Solutions. SiteSync provides Lexington Medical Center with flexible control strategies for reducing power consumption and minimizing maintenance costs, while delivering the right light levels with a simple and affordable wireless solution.

Lighting for Surface Parking Lot and Walkways

Viper from Beacon Products is used to illuminate the new surface parking lots and drive areas in front and back of the new tower. The TRP1 GeoPak from Current Outdoor Lighting is also used to ensure guest walking from the new parking facility have proper illumination.

Central Utility Building

A 63,000-square-foot central utility building supports the electrical, cooling, heating and steam utility needs of the new tower. Columbia Lighting’s DLC Qualified LWS High Bay LED is used exclusively throughout the heavy equipment areas of this facility. The LWS offers the best combination of powerful, high light output with the ideal energy savings for a significant return on the investment. For this massive facility, the team selected the Ultra High Lumen Package with Wide Distribution. At a projected 60,000-hour L80 life, the LWS is the smart choice for warehouses, manufacturing centers, gymnasiums, convention centers and other large, open commercial spaces.

The LCAT from Columbia Lighting is used in the office areas of this facility, and the LNC4 Litepak from Current Outdoor Lighting is used on the roof of the facility to provide illumination security and staff support.

Lighting Controls

NX Area Controllers from Current Control Solutions are being used throughout the facility to communicate with the NX Lighting Control Panels, NX Room Controllers, NX SmartPORT™ Modules and other wired NX system components. The NX Wireless Access Point additionally extends connectivity to NX Wireless Room Controllers, and fixture modules. Integration with building automation systems is simplified by the embedded BACnet® IP client that can be field configured through the GUI to expose selected NX system components as standard BACnet objects.

NX Lighting Control Panels and Relays provide programmable switching and dimming control of the project’s lighting circuits. Panels are equal peers on the network and can have relays and dimmers controlled individually or in groups by any local input, system input, schedule, preset, photocell, or building automation system. Panels can be used exclusively or be part of a hybrid system that includes wired and wireless room controllers comprising a distributed control strategy.

The NX Dimming Option Card adds 0-10V dimming to any Current Control Solutions NX Lighting Control Panel. This provides a low-cost solution for lighting control challenges such as more stringent energy codes, demand response requirements, and LEED qualification while providing additional energy saving capabilities through the use of full range dimming.