OhioHealth Corporation

06/09/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/09/2021 08:41

Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Nonprofits Receive Free Items From OhioHealth's Westerville Renovation

In February 2021, OhioHealth began a two-year renovation of the OhioHealth Westerville Medical Campus. This renovation will allow OhioHealth to provide expanded and new services - moving some services within the building that will result in different and/or bigger spaces for existing services, as well as adding new services, such as weight management and neuro rehab.

Sustainability is at the heart of our healing mission and core values at OhioHealth, and while waste is inevitable in healthcare, especially when construction in involved, producing less waste is one of five focus areas for us.

'Sustainability is something we really focus on,' said Shawna Davis, OhioHealth vice president of external affairs and foundation operations in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. 'As a large health-care system and employer, we have a responsibility and really an opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint. So as we were looking at revitalizing this space, rather than throwing all these materials away and them going to the landfill, we thought, `What can we do with these items and how can we put them to good use?''

As part of this project, OhioHealth is utilizing a variety of sustainability efforts to lessen waste from our facilities that would normally be contributed to landfills. We are partnering with Habitat for Humanity Restore, I am Boundless and Alvis to donate furnishings from the Westerville Medical Campus that are no longer needed here, but could be used by others. These items include furnishings, doors, building materials, cabinets and sinks, IT infrastructure and medical equipment. So far, nearly $200,000 worth of items have been donated - items that would have normally ended up in a landfill.

OhioHealth has recently participated in a similar donation project in Athens. When primary care offices moved to a new facility on the OhioHealth O'Bleness Hospital campus, the old offices were decommissioned through a collaboration with local nonprofits Rural Action and Goodwill. As part of the project, new uses will be found for all unwanted furniture, equipment and supplies that would otherwise have been sent to a landfill.

To read more about the donation of items and how they will be repurposed by these three organizations, click on the Columbus Dispatch logo below.