IWBI’s CEO Rachel Hodgdon discusses healthy buildings with BBC’s Weekend news program
As schools re-open, facilities must address the challenges of a healthy learning environment during COVID-19 - and beyond.
“Picture this: You walk into the building and perhaps the first thing that you realize is that you don’t smell a thing, because the air is cleaner,” said IWBI’s President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon when she recently sat down with BBC’s Weekend news, for an interview that also aired on NPR affiliates throughout the U.S. She was discussing what a healthy building is and how it impacts the health and safety of the people who occupy the space.
“A healthy building addresses a whole range of opportunities to improve health, well-being, productivity, and performance, ranging from air and water quality to thermal comfort to nourishment and movement within the space,” continued Hodgdon.
Creating healthy, safe learning environments is paramount
IWBI recently shared how the WELL Health-Safety Rating is helping school leaders define and establish healthier and safer schools as they prepare to reopen in the fall. During the BBC interview Hodgdon noted that schools can be one of the best examples of how a healthy building can impact those inside.
During her decade long tenure as the director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, Hodgdon recalls she “started to meet teachers at their new green school with improved ventilation and better materials who said they no longer suffered from the ‘2:30’ headache, which was the term they had coined for just how sick being in their old school building made them feel,” she explained. “And I met numerous parents who would say, ‘Since we moved into our new green school, my child hasn’t needed their inhaler.’”
Along with providing educational resources, IWBI is working with school leaders to help meet immediate COVID-19 needs and to prioritize the long-term health and safety by applying the strategies in the WELL Health-Safety Rating.
You can listen to the full interview here, which begins at the 44-minute mark of the program.
If you are interested in learning more about the WELL Healthy-Safety Rating for schools please contact Angela Spangler at angela.spangler@wellcertified.com.
