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.

2019 Practice Green Health Goals

1. Food Composting: Start a food composting program including kitchen staff education to increase our recycling rate 4% by diverting 18 tons of food waste from the landfill.
2. Energy: Complete our energy audit and initiate an energy project based on the results of the audit with the goal of reducing our energy usage by 5% in the calendar year.
3. OR Goal: The OR has 5 goals relating to energy consumption, waste disposal and recycling, and pharmaceutical waste.
4. C & D Goal: We will strive for 80% diversion on the demolition of 1-2 buildings and on the upcoming construction of a new Long Term Care facility.
5. Transportation: Continue our transportation staff incentive, track transportation trends with staff and work with local entities to solve transportation challenges.

Goals accomplished in 2018:

1. Food: Increased our percent spent on sustainable foods 2% for calendar year 2018. Increased our on-site grown produce by 50 pounds.
2. Transportation: Reduced our drive alone rate by 8% between the months of May and September 2018 by using a sampling survey before and after the targeted timeframe. Employees were encouraged with a per day payout for using alternative transportation. SJMC received national recognition for this innovative program.
3. Energy: We started a comprehensive Energy audit in 2018 so that energy improvement efforts can be quantified.
4. Recycling: Created a recycling team of more than 20 employees from more than 10 different departments and created a reward system to incentivize participation.
5. Operating Rooms: Decreased our disposable blue wrap purchases by 7% in calendar year 2018 by providing employee education and purchasing trays to decrease use of wrap.