La Crosse’s two healthcare systems aren’t just some of the region’s biggest employers and taxpayers. They’re also among the biggest energy and resource users.
Big enough that saving a few pennies here and there on energy-efficiency and other green efforts can add up to some serious money.
“Being environmentally sound doesn’t mean having to spend more money,” said Nick Nichols, environmental coordinator for Gundersen Lutheran.
“It means energy savings, money savings. And that’s more money we can put toward patient care.”
Despite being places where people go to get well, hospitals haven’t always been the healthiest places environmentally.
“Healthcare generates a dizzying, complex array and quantity of waste that may pose significant environmental challenges,” according to a statement from Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, an industry partnership between the American Hospital Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Hospitals have many opportunities to find non-toxic alternatives to everything from mercury in thermometers and silver in X-rays to chemicals used for cleaning and lawn care.
Franciscan Skemp has completely eliminated mercury, and has switched to digital X-rays instead of film, while Gundersen Lutheran has almost completely eliminated mercury and is transitioning to digital X-rays.
“Any chemicals we buy for cleaning are environmentally-friendly and non-toxic so we don’t have indoor air quality problems,” said Rajendra Shah, Franciscan Skemp’s director of facility services.
“Franciscan Skemp leaders have empowered us in implementing or trying different ideas toward environmental protection and to make our buildings and grounds safer and better,” Shah said. “We are trying to make it the best in the La Crosse area.”
Shah and Patrick Flood, supervisor of facility services at the Franciscan Skemp building, said they’re always looking for ways to make their facilities more energy efficient.
Last year when a disgruntled patient drove his minivan into the front door of Skemp Clinic, Shah took the opportunity to replace the broken sliding doors, which let out lots of inside air, with an automated revolving door.
“We took it as an opportunity for energy savings,” he said.
But there are smaller things that also add up, Shah said.
When workers access cables in ducts in ceilings, they sometimes don’t replace the ceiling tiles properly. It may not seem like a big deal, but it means a significant increase in the space that has to be heated or cooled.
Shah said by having staff make sure all the tiles are in place, they’ve seen significant savings in HVAC costs.
Flood started a program to have all the outside door gaskets checked each year to make sure the doors fit snugly. “It’s a cheap way to save energy,” he said.
Franciscan Skemp’s Arcadia, Wis., campus has experimented with all-organic lawn care, and Flood said they’re evaluating whether to do it at other locations.
At Gundersen Lutheran, Nichols has been working on projects big and small to save money and make the organization “leaner and greener.”
“The sky’s the limit. We’re trying to get that low-hanging fruit right now and do those things that are easy to do and show value,” said Nichols, who was hired in 2005 to put manpower behind the vision of an environmental committee that has been working on the issue for several years.
So far, Gundersen has won two awards from Hospitals for a Health Environment.
The hospital is doing everything from replacing its 40-year-old air-conditioning chillers with models that are 30 percent more efficient, to removing the bulbs that backlight advertising on soda pop machines.
Just removing those lights saves 30,000 kilowatt hours a year, or about $1,400 in electric bills.
On a larger scale, Gundersen has an ongoing program toconvert incandescent lights to fluorescent lights. Existing fluorescent fixtures are being upgraded to higher-efficiency T-8 models.
“It’s a higher-efficiency bulb, gives off the same lumens but uses less energy,” Nichols said.
Several years ago Gundersen started a paper recyclingprogram but started running into expenses because almost everything has to be shredded to protect patients’ privacy, Nichols said. “That was costing us $30,000 a year. We worked out a deal with Waste Management where they supply us with a container, they take that paper to their facility in Onalaska and shred the material on site.”
“We actually get a rebate on that. We turned a $30,000 cost into an $8,000 income,” Nichols said. In 2005, Gundersenrecycled 223 tons of paper.
“Ultimately, our goal is to get us as paperless as we can,” said Nichols, who wants to put more informational video screens around the hospital to replace paper brochures.
Gundersen retrofitted its CT scanners so instead of using fresh water as a coolant, they use a food-based glycol solution. “We’re saving somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 million gallons of water a year,” Nichols said.
A few years ago, Gundersen Lutheran bought Honda hybrid cars for its couriers. Three hybrids saved the organization50 gallons of gas a week. “When we were paying $3 a gallon that’s quite a chunk of money,” Nichols said.
Both systems are exploring the idea of using solar power.
Shah said Franciscan Skemp looked at using solar power on the roof of its new Onalaska clinic but decided to wait because of the possibility of adding additional stories to the building in the future.
Nichols, who has solar electric and solar water panels at his home in rural La Crosse, said that if they get to a point where solar energy makes “more economic sense,” Gundersen would look at it.
“If there’s a way to be more environmentally responsiblewith the way we use energy, we’re going to take a hard look at it,” Nichols said.
The principle of first do no harm, embodied by the Hippocratic Oath, is “where we’re trying to get to,” Nichols said. “To make sure we’re providing an environment that is healthy for our patients to recover, that is healthy for our staff to work in, and is health for our community.”
That kind of commitment “does mean change, and change is not always easy,” Nichols said.
“The majority of people I talk to are interested in this kind of change, they’re aware of the discussions about global warming and waste, and they want to do what’s right.” s
Tribune reporter Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
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