Environmental sustainability

The goal of the Crisis Management program is organizational resilience, to be highly reliable during times of stress. Climate change is causing extreme weather, hotter temperatures, and other human health problems. We’re working to achieve climate resiliency so that we can continue to serve our community, uninterrupted.

Climate resiliency is the ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to impacts of climate change. For health care organizations, it’s about the ability to maintain reliable health care, no matter what. Resilient health care systems are anchors for healthy, sustainable communities.

Our pledge to build a climate-resilient health care system

Northwell has a mission to improve the health of the communities we serve. We must deliver on that mission even when external events challenge our ability to do so. Whether it’s a pandemic or climate crisis, we will always adapt and change to meet the mission.

As part of our pledge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we are reducing organizational emissions and have developed our inaugural climate resilience plan.

There are three legs to our plan:

• Emergency preparedness: We’re using best practices for disaster management and maintaining continuity of operations.
• Infrastructure upgrades: We’re making critical infrastructure upgrades, focused on climate sustainability.
• Community health: We’re anticipating the needs of groups in our community who have a disproportionate risk of climate-related harm.

Business continuity and emergency preparedness

Our Business Continuity and Emergency Preparedness program uses an all-hazards approach, with a focus on the four phases of emergency management:

• Mitigation
• Preparedness
• Response
• Recovery

Phase-related work comes directly from Hazard Vulnerability Assessments (HVA), which every Northwell facility completes. An HVA helps us identify the hazards or risks most likely to have an impact on a health care facility and the surrounding community.

Of the risks and hazards identified, natural hazards or weather-related events usually rank among the top 10 threats. This is becoming more common in recent years as effects from climate change deepen.

The business continuity and emergency preparedness teams use the HVA to determine their planning efforts. We do this work perpetually, so that we can maintain continuous operations during any disaster, emergency, or event.

Investment in infrastructure

The Corporate Facilities Services team has made significant capital investment into infrastructure upgrades. These upgrades are helping us combat weather-related damage to our buildings and include: 

• Emergency generator & elevated electrical distribution work at South Shore University Hospital
• Window replacement & flood mitigation at numerous sites
• Generator & HVAC upgrades increasing reliability
• Power plant upgrades at Staten Island University Hospital
• Electrical distribution and HVAC work at Northern Westchester Hospital

The improvements and maintenance of Northwell facilities is part of normal practice. However, with the threats associated with Climate Change this work makes our facility infrastructure more resilient.

Community health

Climate change is a direct threat to the health of the communities we serve, and Northwell will continue to work to combat it. We always put public health at the forefront of what we do.

Understanding that many of our communities may be at disproportionate risk to climate related we plan to do the following:

• Identify & anticipate the needs of these communities/groups
• Provide education & awareness on how climate effects health
• Leverage our already established Health Equity Task force and Community Health Alliance to hear directly from our community leaders on ways for us to aid
• Monitor and track health trends related to climate change and provide clinical interventions as appropriate

This work is setting the foundation for our community resiliency efforts.

Contact

We’re focused on sourcing goods and services that help us meet our energy and emissions goals. We are particularly interested in partnering with diverse and local suppliers, including small businesses and disabled-owned, LGBTQIA+-owned, minority-owned, women-owned or veteran-owned businesses.

If you’re a prospective supplier, you can register with our database. Email [email protected] for more information.

Media: If you’re reporting on health care and climate change, view our list of media contacts.