University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Achieves Environmental Goals

CLEVELAND — Each year on April 22, people across the world celebrate Earth Day--the modern environmental movement that kicked off its first year in 1970. Now widely recognized, more than a billion people participate each year in taking action to change human behavior. It’s a time to raise awareness of long-term ecological sustainability, create policy changes in the fight against climate change, and ensure the planet thrives for future generations.

The University Hospitals (UH) Cleveland Medical Center Sustainability Team is interested in two primary goals: to raise sustainability and climate change awareness among employees through educational events, and to set manageable sustainability and net zero emissions goals that lead to a broader impact on health and the environment. The team is comprised of employees from Nutrition and Dietary Services, Nursing, Environmental Services, Engineering, Facilities and Safety.

Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD, Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chief Academic and Scientific Officer of UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, and Herman K. Hellerstein, MD, Chair in Cardiovascular Research is helping to lead these efforts. Dr. Rajagopalan studies the correlation between environmental factors, like pollution and climate change, on health.

“It is vitally important to recognize the links between the health impact of pollution and climate change, and the positive impact investments in sustainability can have on health in the community,” he explained. “The impact between the external environment and internal health is just starting to be appreciated. When we start to understand that by reducing our own pollution and CO2 emission footprint, we start to affect the health of our own communities and therefore our own health, and we realize how connected and interdependent we all are.”

Dr. Rajagopalan believes that sustainable living leads to healthier living. “We can better our health and environment simultaneously by using the stairs instead of the elevator, for example. This small step reduces your carbon footprint while increasing cardiovascular fitness. Also, decreasing meat consumption decreases the chances of coronary disease and, in turn, decreases greenhouse gases.”

“While decreasing our personal carbon footprint through small lifestyle changes is important, we can also reduce emissions by changing the way we practice medicine,” Dr. Rajagopalan added. “Currently, healthcare organizations produce between five to 10 percent of greenhouse gases and there are many opportunities to develop awareness around climate change goals. A major focus of Fortune 500 companies and healthcare organizations is to get to net zero emissions by 2035.”

Earlier this year, UH implemented an important change with a big impact. In February of 2023, UH Cleveland Medical Center eliminated the use of all Styrofoam in the cafeteria, replacing it with a more sustainable sugarcane fiber product.

Currently, the UH Cleveland Medical Center Sustainability Team is working toward multiple goals, including:

Sourcing menu items from local Ohio vendors, because locally grown food uses less fuel and energy to transport and stays fresh longer;