Baystate Health Engages Employees in Sustainability Efforts

By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Baystate Health Engages Employees in Sustainability Efforts

Baystate Health, in Springfield, Mass., developed a comprehensive sustainability strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions among staff in their facilities.

These efforts begin at onboarding. Baystate uses internal and external communications like newsletters, social media, and a sustainability webpage to ensure that programs are visible and accessible.

On the hospital’s medical intensive care unit, clinicians and nurses formed a sustainability committee and worked with management and the sustainability team to expand recycling on the unit. Climate and Coffee, an annual event that draws roughly 750 staff members across three hospitals, offers updates on sustainability efforts and invites staff to learn how they can participate, especially in reducing clinical waste. The health system also hosts a monthly onsite farmers market featuring local vendors to promote healthy eating while reinforcing sustainability values.

The Unusable Medical Supplies Collection initiative, in partnership with Partners for World Health, diverts supplies no longer suitable for patient care to health aid programs abroad, leveraging nurse and physician staff efforts. Additionally, the health system expanded its medical device reprocessing and buyback effort to include additional kinds of devices, which saves money and reduces landfill waste.

This model shows how embedding sustainability into culture and making it part of workplace norms, not just facility operations, can empower employees as change agents and help maintain momentum over time.