Sustainability

A healthy human greatly depends on a healthy environment.

St. John’s Health is committed to protecting and preserving the environment by promoting cost-effective business practices consistent with the following principles:

• We will meet or exceed all environmental laws and regulations
• We support and encourage recycling of the materials used within the hospital
• We minimize waste and ensure that contaminated waste is disposed of in a safe and responsible manner
• We encourage the use of alternate transportation through financial and other incentives
• We purchase products that contain recyclable or reusable materials whenever possible
• We practice water conservation and energy efficiency
• We use environmentally friendly cleaning products whenever possible
• We strive to eliminate the emissions of toxins or dangerous substances into the air, water, or earth
• We participate with organizations, businesses, and the public to encourage environmentally responsible practices within our community and state.

2020 Practice Green Health Goals:

1. Waste/materials: Switch to 30% recycled content paper and conduct a paper reduction campaign to offset the increased costs.
2. Community: Sign up for BEST certification. BEST stands for Business Emerald Sustainability Tier and is part of an effort to make Jackson Hole a certified sustainable destination. Achieving BEST certification will involve imbedding sustainability in written policies, strategies and goals across many departments.
3. Transportation: Work with our local Clean Cities organization explore for ways to green our fleet with alternative fuel/increased mileage vehicles, install at least one electric vehicle charging station in 2020 and develop a 5 year plan for decreasing our CO2 emissions.
4. Healthy Interiors/Purchasing: Ensure that 30 percent of the annual volume of furnishings and furniture purchases (based on cost) eliminate the use of formaldehyde, perfluorinated compounds, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), antimicrobials, and all flame retardants.
5. Energy: Complete a long term (5-10 year) energy reduction plan based on the results of our energy audit.

Past Accomplishments:

1. Awarded the Partner for Change Award in 2020 for the fourth straight year from Practice Green Health. Also awarded the “Making Medicine Mercury Free Award” in 2020.
2. Started a food composting program that diverts 22 tons of food prep waste from the landfill yearly.​
3. Diverted over 80% of construction waste from a building demolition by segregating wood, concrete and metal, keeping these reusable resources out of the landfill.
4. Decreased our disposable blue wrap purchases by 7% in calendar year 2018 by providing employee education and purchasing trays to decrease use of wrap in our OR’s.
5. Spoke at a national sustainability conference to share details of our alternative transportation initiatives including support of START bus ridership to decrease local traffic and emissions.
6. Achieved a 10% increase in landfill diversion over the last 5 years bringing our 2019 diversion rate to 37%.