Spectrum Health Building Systemwide Sustainability

Spectrum Health is expanding its green and sustainability focus beyond its Grand Rapids hospitals in a systemwide effort. The organization will host its first system sustainability program planning event on Tuesday, December 15 at Butterworth Hospital.

Selected staff from Spectrum Health’s seven hospitals, Priority Health, the Spectrum Health Medical Group and mmpc will attend “Creating A Sustainability Culture.” They will learn how sustainability impacts all aspects of Spectrum Health. Participants also will review sustainability progress to date throughout the system, and discuss Spectrum Health’s future goals and the structure of its program.

“Spectrum Health has an established program at its hospitals in Grand Rapids and we’re committed to sustainable practices that improve human, environmental and financial health,” said Jonathan Flyte, vice president, facilities, Spectrum Health Grand Rapids. “Our sustainability efforts have grown significantly the past few years and now we need to develop a standardized approach to ‘green’ our entire health care system.”

Flyte also said that representatives from Practice Greenhealth, a partner and a leading organization for health care sustainability, will participate in the event and offer guidance. “Our goal is to arm staff members with the tools and resources to drive change, and help instill sustainability in our culture, which encompasses 16,000 employees.”

The event’s key note speaker is Gary Cohen, a founder and co-executive director of Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), the international campaign for environmentally responsible health care. HCWH works to prevent disease and illness in society by assisting the health care sector in understanding the links between a healthy environment and healthy people and helping hospitals become more environmentally sustainable. HCWH has over 500 member organizations and partners in 50 countries.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, a collection of seven hospitals and more than 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and mmpc, multispecialty physician groups with more than 400 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with nearly 500,000 members. Spectrum Health’s 16,000 employees, 1,500 medical staff members and 2,000 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care. The organization provided $111.1 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year. As a system, Spectrum Health has earned more than 100 awards during the past 10 years.