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.

As a member of Practice Green Health for the last 6 years, St. John's Health has received 8 national environmental excellence awards and received guidance for goals achieved across many departments.

Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help members meet their goals. More than 1200 hospitals nationwide are members, working to decrease healthcare’s environmental footprint.

2022 Practice Green Health Goals:

1. Chemicals/Healthy Carpets: At least 25% of our carpets installed in 2022 based on dollar spend, will meet the healthy flooring silver or gold level criteria.
2. Transportation/EV: Sign on to the Yellowstone/Teton Clean Cities EV Accelerator program designed to help businesses promote EV’s in our region. Participation requires installation of EV charging stations, an EV employee ambassador, educating employees, completing an employee survey and consideration of EV’s when fleet vehicles are replaced.
3. Waste: Complete a review of our Regulated Medical Waste (RMW) contract with leadership from supply chain, infection control, EVS, sustainability and facilities. Goals include decreasing RMR, increasing employee safety, analyzing use of reusable sharps containers and reducing costs.
4. Food/Less Meat: Reduce our percentage of meat purchased per food dollar spent by 5%, by increasing offerings of plant-based foods and standardizing meat portions to a smaller size.

Past Accomplishments:

1. Started a food composting program in 2020 that diverts over 22 tons of food prep waste yearly and saves money over landfilling.
2. Made the switch to recycled content white office paper and reduced our paper usage by 32 % over the last 5 years.
3. 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.
4. Reduced our water usage by 40% over the last 5 years by purchasing water saving equipment and fixtures.
5. Increased our recycling/diversion from 107 tons in 2016 to 157 tons in 2021.
6. Completed a comprehensive energy audit in 2021 detailing opportunities for improving energy efficiencies.​