My wife and I have two healthy and happy Hoag babies. We, and so many others, have an intimate understanding of how Hoag Hospital has delivered wonderful health care to so many in our community.
Are you comforted to know that Hoag is applying that same process of excellence to care and consideration of the environment, and is choosing to prioritize green and sustainable outcomes?
I had the opportunity to sit down with Roxanna Bryant, director of corporate facility services for Hoag Hospital. I liked her competency on green and sustainable thinking, but mostly I enjoyed the reality-based discussion on where Hoag has been, where they are and their goals for the future. I am encouraged when someone admits that they had not always been necessarily focused on green.
Lately, Hoag has hired subject matter experts, achieved sustainable outcomes, budgeted to invest capital and written specific and achievable green goals. Can’t ask for anything more.
During the proud sharing of green projects, I interrupted Bryant. I have been to Hoag recently, and wanted to know how I and others could share observations and opportunities to improve on the green and sustainable front. The response was world class, and indicative of the spirit and intent of Hoag Hospital to achieve excellence in everything they do.
The immediate and honest response was to suggest I should talk to any employee.
Hoag has a top-down fully instituted organizational culture …. You can stop anyone to share a complaint, opportunity for improvement, or green and sustainable idea. I thought it awesome that I could engage a candy striper, volunteer, valet, or an executive, and they could capture my idea and introduce it into the Hoag system for immediate and thoughtful consideration. No special process is necessary when this is how you truly behave, every day.
Of the many projects and outcomes, here is a data dump of the general accomplishments that caught my eye:
- Consistent and meaningful energy savings.
- Waste diversion, achieving about 90% diversion from landfills.
- Pilot testing such things as sustainable flooring.
- Green cleaning practices.
- Instituted a recycling policy.
- Repurposing of equipment, furniture and materials.
- Reducing water consumption.
- Added bicycle stalls.
And there’s more. It is hard to legislate behaviors with language like you must and you shall. So Hoag encourages fuel efficient vehicles by offering preferred parking.
You can’t manage what you do not measure, so sub-metering for energy and water are utilized.
Computer Power Management yields an insight that all Hoag computers, 8 hours a day equals $65,500 a year in energy costs. Go to sleep little devices, and the savings are meaningful.
If you want to do business with Hoag as a vendor partner, you better bring a green game.
In the Operating Room, staff identified ways to take the blue wrap that sterilizes and recycle it.
Although health and safety are the primary considerations, true genius is achieved when those requirements are combined with a sustainable outcome. So, things need to be sterilized, and water is effective for that. Hoag introduced a Belimed Sterilizer, that can achieve the standards, yet save 1,000,000 gallons of water, enough to fill 15,000 Newport Beach bathtubs.
The going-forward goals are aggressive, and impressive. With baselines established, the not-to-distant future will yield a 50 percent reduction in potable water, 90 percent waste reduction and a 50 percent energy cost reduction.
This thinking was utilized to achieve similar results at the new Irvine campus, and is in place for all Hoag Health Centers.
Hoag Hospital cares for your health, and for the environment. Next time you are on a Hoag facility, take a moment to engage the staff. Your compliment is sure to make it all the way to the top, and they deserve a compliment from the community.
Send green thoughts to JimFitzeco@gmail.com.
