Trends

Culver Garden Court Emergency Services Walk-thru

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Tonight we’re going to have a walk-thru at Culver Garden Court for Culver’s Emergency Services personnel.  We’ve invited any of the Culver Fire Department, Culver EMTs  and Culver Police that would like a tour of the building.  As this is housing for the elderly, we feel it is important to familiarize them with the facility.  This is something we have done in the past with other Garden Court facilities we have built.

Culver Garden Court has the first Knox Box in Culver.  (Wikipedia description here.)  A Knox Box is a small safe that is installed at the front door of a building.  It will contain a master key to the facility.  In case of a 911 call, whether a fire, medical emergency or other, the emergency service personnel arriving at the site will be able to access the key using a key to the Knox Box.

Now that the program has been initiated in Culver, I would anticipate that other Culver facilities will want to install them as well.  While the boxes are somewhat expensive, they are generally less expensive than the cost of the door replacement due to the the fire department taking an axe to the door.  It is also a life safety issue.  Opening the door with a key is the most efficient way to get to a life in jeopardy on the other side.  In my opinion the Culver Schools, the Culver Library and the Culver Town Hall should all have Knox Boxes.  In the spirit of the one installed at Culver Garden Court, the Culver Cove, Beachside Condos and Beach View Condos should consider them as well.  Knox Boxes can also be installed on private homes.

I believe the next step for Culver should be to develop a policy regarding Knox Boxes.  There’s a lot of responsibility involved in their use.  All the Knox Boxes in a community have a master key.  A chain of custody for these keys should be established.  A policy should be adopted on how to handle them.  (Some communities have controlled access safes in each emergency vehicle to establish accountability and a chain of custody for anyone that accesses the key.)  Depending on the type of policy developed, Culver may want to apply for a grant from the Marshall County Community Foundation (MCCF) to implement a program. (Thanks for the suggestion B3!)

I would also like to see a standard set for the location of the boxes.  The Knox Box company has a recommendation, but it should be established.  It does no good for the box and key to be there if emergency services have to search for it.  A second step forward here would be a program that initiates emergency plans for the buildings with Knox Boxes.  An emergency services walk-thru for each of these buildings, similar to what we have planned tonight, would help them if they ever had to enter that building in an actual emergency.

I plan to follow up tonight’s meeting with a discussion at the Town Council to get them thinking about implementing this policy.  I believe doing this by ordinance would be appropriate, but that would be up to the council to make that determination.

 

 

Energy from Footsteps

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A company in England has come up with a paving tile that harvests the energy from footsteps.  Pavgen has developed technology that converts the kinetic energy from foot steps into electricity that can be stored and used for a variety of applications.  The tiles are designed to compress 5 millimeters in order to collect the energy.

Pavgen pavers will be installed in the mall at the 2012 London Olympics and are expected to provide enough energy to power half the mall lights.  (See CNN story here.)

*  Image borrowed from CNN.com

Broadband and Bagels Event

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Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) is sponsoring an educational meeting to discuss the broadband wireless internet service being utilized by Culver Academies as well as others in our area.  The hope is that this is another way of getting broadband service throughout the county.  If you have a need for broadband internet, you should attend this event to see if it fits your needs.  It is being marketed as a co-op service so increased participation lowers costs!

If you’re interested in attending, contact Pam Davis at MCEDC.

Germaphobia

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I am surrounded by sickness here lately.  Becky has been sick this week and is hacking and coughing and snotty when I go home.  Will and Kathy are both hacking and coughing here at the office.  Kathy has been making fun of me for wiping down my phone after she uses it!

For years I’ve been one of those people that wash my hands in the public restroom and then use the paper towel to open the door when I leave.  Touchless is great, where everything is on sensors and my preference is for bathrooms without doors or with doors that open out, but that doesn’t always work.  I’m not a big fan of the blower dryers for this reason.  

Well, I’ve noticed that I’m apparently not the only one.  More and more public restrooms have trash cans near the exit.  (Keeps me from having to practice my basketball shot across the room!)  I got a little vindication from Commercial Building Products magazine this month when I saw the picture here to the right.  It came with the caption, “Mounting paper-towel dispensers near an exit door provides users the chance to protect themselves from any germs left behind by others.  The conveniently located waste container makes it easy to keep used towels off the floor.”  Good plan!

Outdoor Living Update

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Progress is continuing on the outdoor living project previously discussed here.  The perimeter walls are going up now.  These walls are solid concrete retaining wall block.  They are double sided allowing them to be dry stacked vertically and used as both the inner and outer wall finish.  A separate cap stone will be installed where the wall serves a a seat wall.  Around the kitchen area, shown in the progress picture to the right, a granite counter top will be installed once the stainless steel kitchen appliances and cabinets are in place.  The stone floor progress can be seen in this picture as well.
We are currently waiting for the bar stool structures to be delivered.  They will be installed using a cantilever support system by Seating Innovations that will be mounted to the floor behind the wall.  It will then extend through the wall.  The chairs themselves will be aluminum to simulate the stainless steel finish of the cabinets.  The seats will be cherry.  The seats do not come with an outdoor finish from the factory, so we will be getting them raw and field finishing them with a marine finish.  It will require maintenance, but should be good for several years before retreatment.
We’re installing the ceiling at this time as well.  We are using vinyl soffit material as the ceiling finish.  The flexibility of the vinyl allows it to conform to the wood framework of the barrel ceiling.  The ceiling is being installed using screws to allow for future accessibility.  This will allow access to the attic area for additions or changes to the electrical system or sound system.  Can lighting is being installed throughout along with some ceiling fans and chandeliers.  There are also surround sound speakers planned for enhanced television viewing.   There will be hurricane shutters that require periodic maintenance as well.  When necessary, the ceiling can be removed to access the shutters and actually lower them for service if necessary.