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newsletter spring 2002 |
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Ridgeview
Keeps the Community Healthy
Staff learn that being dedicated to the
long-term vitality of Ridgeview benefits the Waconia community.
Ridgeview
Medical Center in Waconia has reduced solid waste by eight
percent since January, 2001. When its goal of decreasing solid
waste by 50 percent is achieved, Ridgeview will save $70,000
in transportation costs alone.
Community
Partnership
Waconia is taking steps to become a sustainable community—one
that meets the needs of today without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. With a mission
to “enhance the health of people in the community,”
Ridgeview felt that becoming sustainable made sense. The medical
center worked to minimize activities that could essentially
harm the community, such as using devices and reagents containing
mercury—a toxin associated with neurological disorders.
“Our
CEO, Bob Stevens, has been a great advocate of eliminating
mercury in our facility and in the community,” said Linda
Livers, education and development manager at Ridgeview.
Buy
In at the Top
With such strong support from the CEO, convincing members
of Ridgeview’s Leadership Council—vice presidents,
directors, managers and supervisors—to think about sustainability
wasn’t too difficult. To get buy in from the Leadership
Council, they needed to understand how being dedicated to
the long-term economic, environmental and social vitality
of the facility and the Waconia community would further Ridgeview’s
mission.
MnTAP
health care specialist, Catherine Zimmer helped facilitate
a day-and-a-half training about sustainability for the Leadership
Council. “Catherine was incredibly helpful. She is obviously
committed to the environment,” said Todd Wilkening, director
of facility services at Ridgeview.
“Catherine’s
background in health care enabled her to get buy in from staff
because she was able to present statistics and information
directly from the health care industry,” said Livers.
Once learning
about sustainability, Leadership Council members looked at
how activities in their areas of the facility impact other
departments, the environment and the community.
Attitude
Changes and Successes
The Leadership Council took the information they learned back
to their departments. Wilkening explained, “Each department
developed key result areas (KRAs) for becoming sustainable.”
Each KRA, such as reducing the amount of disposable items
used in surgery, consists of an objective, tactics to achieve
the objective and a list of who is responsible for the tactics.
The KRAs enable staff to look at what they said they were
going to accomplish and measure their progress in each area.
Overall
Livers and Wilkening feel that staff attitudes at the facility
have changed and staff are more conscious of their actions.
“They are thinking about implications more,” explained
Wilkening.
Training
employees from the top down was a great strategy for Ridgeview.
"To be successful we needed to change the culture, and
I think that we are on our way to being successful,"
said Wilkening.
Investment
Catherine’s services developing and facilitating a portion
of the sustainability training were provided free of charge.
Ridgeview also received a grant from the Minnesota Office
of Environmental Assistance (OEA) to help with its efforts
to become sustainable. The grant helped Ridgeview cover the
cost of a professional facilitator, the training facility,
organic lunches for participants and training materials. For
more information about the OEA
grant program visit the Web page or call Linda Countryman,
OEA, at 651/215-0269 or 800/657-3843.
Commitment
at the top of the organization and dedication to training
employees are the keys to becoming sustainable. For more information,
see OEA’s
Resources on Sustainability, Sustainability
Institute or Alliance for
Sustainability.
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