Left: Pictured here is part of a 1950s-era Pan American Life Insurance building that was renovated as part of the new Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System campus. Below: Patient rooms at the VA medical center feature ceiling lifts that go from the bed to the bathroom. [the facility] and have policies to transfer from a normal environment to an emergency," he says. Approaching storms call for tough decisions. While the majority of storm systems weaken or turn at the last minute, no one can accurately predict the severity or path. Locking down a hospital too early could be a disservice to patients, and doing it too late could UMC New Orleans opened in August and the VA medical center is scheduled for 2016. Ripple says the designs of the new hospitals and other buildings in the city represent a change in attitude about how New Orleanians view the risk of flooding. He says the city is slowly embracing buildings that are flexible and adaptable, pointing to raised structures, redundant power supplies, and "floodable" spaces around the city as a smarter way of learning to live with the risk. "We just 34 HCDmagazine.com 10.15 can't keep building higher walls thinking we're going to keep the water out. We're surrounded by water and we're adapting our city to live with it," he says. HCD Craig Guillot is a freelance writer based in New Orleans. He can be reached at craig@ craigguillot.com. Four nearby historic homes were relocated to the VA medical center grounds and converted into rehabilitation spaces and offices. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS put people in danger. Both the VA and UMC New Orleans projects were designed to respond to threats at multiple stages. At the earliest, it starts with putting procedures in place to secure the campus, ensuring there are no flying materials on-site and preparing to move staff and patients where they need to be in the hospital. Elective surgeries are cancelled and patients who can be discharged early are sent home to minimize the load.http://www.HCDmagazine.com