In recognition for its achievement and innovation in health care sustainability, Aspirus Wausau Hospital (AWH) received the Partner Recognition Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care.

The award is given to health care facilities that are changing their practices to become more sustainable and have achieved progress in areas such as waste reduction, renewable energy adoption, food purchasing, and mercury elimination. They also must have a recycling rate of at least 10 percent for their entire waste stream. 

“As more and more hospitals embed sustainability into their operations, the bar for environmental excellence increases every year,” said Gary Cohen, president of Practice Greenhealth. “Aspirus Wausau Hospital demonstrates the kind of leadership, innovation, and performance that can drive the entire health sector toward more environmentally responsible practices.”

AWH was recognized for having a good foundation of SMART goals, a baseline of 23% recycling rate which doubles the threshold requirement of 10% and having 39% of its ORs already implemented with HVAC setbacks.

‘’We’re proud to say that we’ve made great strides toward reducing our impact on the environment, said President of Aspirus Wausau Hospital Darrell Lentz. “At AWH, we know that sustainability is essential to better care for our patients, for our communities, and for the planet.”

The award is one of Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence Awards given to honor health care’s achievements in sustainability. The award will be formally presented at the Environmental Excellence Awards Gala May 9 in Nashville.