Rural hospital adopts proactive sustainability

Hydroponic walls at St. John’s provide kale for the hospital’s kitchen for five months out of the year.

Image by Lisa Smith

St. John’s Health, Jackson, Wyo., goes beyond first-rate patient care. Its mission includes a commitment to real sustainability. The commitment includes everything from exceeding existing standards around environmental laws and regulations, to addressing waste and recycling; alternative transportation; water conservation and energy efficiency; environmentally friendly cleaning practices; the emission of toxins; and participation with community and state programs that encourage environmentally responsible practices.

St. John’s conducted a comprehensive energy audit to examine energy usage and determine new ways to reduce it. The resulting five-year plan incorporated new policies that include integrating the cost of energy usage when purchasing new devices; increasing the use of reprocessed operating room devices by 50%; reviewing laundry procedures to determine best practices for disinfection and cleaning; and having a goal of reducing water usage by 5% by utilizing Environmental Protection Agency Water Sense-labeled products and, whenever possible, other water-saving equipment.

While proactively pursuing these goals, St. John’s has established some notable sustainability practices and put them into place. These include a food composting program that diverts 22 tons of waste from the landfill, a switch to office paper made of recycled content, and reducing paper usage annually for four years running.