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Date: 8/9/2023
SPRINGFIELD — United States Sen. Ed Markey (D-Malden) hosted a press conference on Aug. 1 at Baystate Medical Center to announce new legislation focused on building strong, resilient hospitals in the face of the climate crisis and ensuring that the hospitals remain open before, during and after extreme weather events, which are “intensifying” and “increasing in frequency.”
This announcement builds on Markey’s Green New Deal for Health legislation designed to enable the U.S. health care system to respond to climate change by improving sustainability and supporting patients, providers and communities.
Baystate Health President and CEO Mark Keroack thanked Markey and his team for visiting Baystate, along with his advocacy that supports hospitals and health care systems to become “resilient” to climate change while approving access to care for the underserved.
Keroack said the hospitals of Baystate Health have served the community for more than 100 years, regardless of one’s capability to pay. “We are by far the largest provider for care for the underserved in Western Mass.,” he said.
Keroack shared that one key part of Baystate’s work today — “the defining challenge of our generation” — is fighting climate change. He noted that it has direct links to overall health and well-being.
“The health care sector accounts for nearly 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, so we’re not only taking this public health threat seriously, but we’re also taking bold steps for a greater future at Baystate Health,” Keroack said. This includes looking at ways to improve the natural environment, strengthen the well-being of the communities served and manage facilities responsibilities.
With a full slate of projects on the horizon at Baystate, Keroack said that will continue to mitigate the environmental impact while advancing community health and well-being. “I believe that the legislation Sen. Markey is proposing today will help us move quickly toward that bright future,” he added.
Keroack asked everyone to incorporate environmentally friendly practices into everyday life. “The work of climate resilience is important for our future and it will take every one of us working together to be successful,” he shared.
Markey said, “July was the hottest month ever recorded. It is no longer global warming, it is now global boiling.”
He continued, “Emergency departments across the country filled up with patients experiencing heat exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration and even burns after falling down on sizzling asphalt.”
Markey said hospitals tried to keep up as their air conditioners strained under consecutive days and weeks of rising temperatures, while their energy bills soared.
“Our hospitals — already history’s great defenders in the face of pain and illness — have now had to join the frontlines of the climate crisis … It is only going to get worse,” Markey said. He shared that this is just a preview of coming climates and crises in weeks, months and years.
He explained that extreme heat is only the “most current manifestation” of the stressors that will be brought to and will test the health care system.
“Smoke inhalation from wildfires is damaging lungs and will have long term impacts on our health. Intensifying storms and rising sea levels along our coasts bring in catastrophic floods that have already shut down hospitals in Massachusetts,” Markey said.
He went on to say, “Despite these unrelenting challenges, health care providers have been making due with what they have because that’s what heroes do in the darkest days … These doors stay open [and] the safety net catches us.”
Markey emphasized that these challenges are only intensifying, and climate change will not go away.
He said they cannot ask health care workers to treat individuals without partnership from Congress to change the system. “We must lift some of that weight off of your shoulders.”
Markey said, “We cannot only care for sick patients without also healing our sick planet. The planet is running a fever … There are no emergency rooms for planets, so we have to engage in preventive care. The health of our planet is inseparable from the health of our people.”
He noted that the health care system cannot run on “dirty energy,” contributing to what is making people ill while trying to make them healthy. He added that people should not have to be treated under the crumbling infrastructure that makes people sicker.
In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the Hill-Burton Act into law, which was borne under the new ideals to bring health care to every single community.
“Hill-Burton provided groundbreaking funding to build hospitals in communities that did not have them with the critical requirements that hospitals must in turn provide free care in their communities,” Markey explained.
Two decades later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act to make essential updates to Hill-Burton to ensure community care and equal access to care for Black Americans.
On Aug. 1, Markey announced the Green Hospitals Act which would “invest $100 billion to revive Hill-Burton — to help health facilities become more resilient to climate disasters and build greener infrastructure while requiring health care facilities provide free care to those who can’t afford it,” he said.
“The Green Hospitals Act will help with $100 billion to bring and to keep health care in every community, especially as the climate crisis fuels health challenges, including right here in Springfield,” Markey added.
He went on to say that this act would help guarantee a future where if a climate fueled crisis strikes, people can assure that their hospital — Baystate — will stay open to treat them.
“It will make clear that climate justice is health care justice,” he said.
Following Markey’s announcement, Baystate Health and Energy Coordinator Ariana Walker presented informational slides that explained the Health Sector Climate Pledge, which Baystate signed onto. The pledge includes reducing — at minimum — organizational emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net-zero by 2050, and publicly sharing strategies for reducing on-site emissions. The other two requirements include hiring someone to lead from the inside and challenging the health system to draft the resiliency plan for the impacts of climate change with a particular focus on the underserved members of the community.
Walker said Baystate has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions already by 17%. She said her job is to lay the framework on how to achieve the additional 33% in the next seven years.
Some examples of action Baystate plans to take include electrification of thermal loads, building optimization and power purchase agreement financing for on-site removals, to name a few.
She shared that Baystate will be ready to release its climate resiliency plan by the end of 2023.
Walker added, “There is much to be done before we can celebrate at that 2030 mark. With that said, let’s get to work.”