Spotlight: Lakeview Hospital is Greener Than You Think

Stillwater’s own Lakeview Hospital is a showcase of good corporate environmental stewardship. For instance, the hospital and clinic get 60% of their energy from three regional solar farms via a special arrangement with Xcel Energy. 

They recycle and reuse. This includes all their "blue wrap," a polypropylene material used to wrap surgical tools after they've been used, and their sharps containers. Excess food waste goes to local hog farmers, and the cafeteria dishes and utensils are all reusable.

They safely dispose of unused medicines (so they don’t end up in the water system) through a free secure medicine disposal unit available to the public. There are electric vehicle charging stations for employees. There is a community produce garden off the main cafeteria. There is a rain garden under construction under the Lakeview Hospital sign to catch rainwater runoff from the main parking lot.

They replaced all their lights with LEDs and optimized all their mechanical systems to save energy. Their salad greens for patient meals are organic and sourced from a local aquaponics farm. 

Lakeview Hospital is now looking for a permanent source of organic vegetables for the entire hospital year-round. If you have a suggestion on farms to approach, please get in touch with Eric at eric.siskow@lakeview.org - Eric also sits on the board of directors at Sustainable Stillwater MN.

What's particularly heartening is that these initiatives are not isolated to Lakeview. Many of these initiatives came from the top at HealthPartners, which owns Lakeview. HealthPartners has similar initiatives in place for its other nearby facilities: Amery Hospital and Clinic, Westfields Hospital and Clinic, and Hudson Hospital and Clinic. Kudos to Lakeview Hospital for showing the region how it's done.