PULASKI, PA. Home for mentally ill is based on efficiency, environmental focus

It's the first to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
PULASKI, Pa. -- An environmentally friendly building will be home to mentally ill people making the transition back into the community.
The Human Services Center of New Castle is finishing work on Edgewood, a group home for mentally ill people coming back to the community from state mental institutions.
It is being built on the grounds of Westfield in Pulaski Township. Westfield already has an eight-person group home for people with developmental disabilities.
Residents in both homes will work on the farm, which has a leaf-composting facility as well as a vegetable garden and commercial flower beds.
Edgewood will be the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified building in the county, said Roger Smith, community services director for HSC.
The U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit corporation, is the developer and administrator of the LEED Green Building Rating System.
While helping the environment, the LEED certification also helped human services get special funding for the building.
About $22,000 was given by the Penelec Sustainable Energy Fund of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies in Johnstown. The rest of the $400,000 building was paid for with money from the state's Community Hospital Integration Program secured through the county mental-health office.
Integration and efficiency
The goal is to integrate former Lawrence County residents who are now in state mental hospitals into the community, said Dennis Nebel, executive director of HSC.
At least one person living in Mayview State Hospital and possibly some elderly HSC clients living in New Castle who need to live in a one-floor facility will move into Edgewood when it is completed in January, Nebel said.
Edgewood is just one of several facilities in Lawrence County that HSC operates, he said.
It will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help the residents with life skills. Each person will have their own room and share a bathroom and other common areas with each other. A few offices are also in the building.
The modern design was done by New Castle architect Frank Ross and includes high ceilings with exposed heating and cooling ducts and heated floors.
Ross said the building is energy efficient because its outside walls were built as thick as a typical cooler, which slows down the heat flow.
"It means you will need less energy to maintain the desired temperature," he said.
The roof also has a passive solar system that shields the building from the hot summer sun and allows enough in during the winter to keep the building warm.
Smith said they also wanted to insure it was practically maintenance-free by putting hemlock siding on the outside which never has to be replaced and planting Pennsylvania sedge instead of traditional grass. It only grows six to 12 inches and won't need mowed, he said.
Environmentally friendly
While the living quarters are energy efficient, Westfield is environmentally friendly.
The facility, which opened in 1997, composts leaves for New Castle, Union Township, Sharon and waste haulers that work in Hermitage and Mercer, said Eric Schwoeble, Westfield executive director. The compost is then sold.
The 29-acre facility also operates a commercial greenhouse, flower beds and a vegetable garden.
The residents are given a salary for their work.
"It gives them a sense of empowerment, especially this time of year when they can use their money to buy presents for family and friends," Schwoeble said.
The facility is part of the ongoing effort to deinstitutionalize mentally ill patients, Smith said.
"We believe that chronically mentally ill persons can be and have been successfully maintained in noninstitutional community settings when needed services are available and accessible," Smith said.