In a new report, Essential Hospitals Institute presents findings from a second phase of Kresge Foundation–funded climate resiliency research by the Institute, research, education, dissemination, and leadership development arm of America’s Essential Hospitals. Unlike the project’s first phase — largely interviews to assess the state of climate resiliency work at essential hospitals — this new phase funded three member hospitals to conduct climate-related projects.
The report, Advancing Climate Resilience and Mitigation at Essential Hospitals, features projects from St. Luke’s Health System, in Boise, Idaho, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), in Little Rock, and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, who each received up to $75,000 to support new or ongoing work to reduce waste, energy use, or greenhouse gases.
The hospitals took a variety of successful approaches to shrinking their carbon footprint, including reducing emissions of anesthesia gases, using automation to turn off lighting and air conditioning in elevators during periods of low use, and conducting and acting on waste audits. The report details each of the projects and the grantee’s perspectives on their work and offers recommendations to hospitals considering projects to improve climate resiliency and mitigate climate change.
The Institute thanks The Kresge Foundation for financially supporting this work and acknowledges the contributions of essential hospital members who participated in the project.
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