Employee Opportunities and Initiatives

Please stay tuned for future opportunities to get involved on sustainability on campus as an employee, including volunteer opportunities!

For ways you can help make your workplace be more sustainable, consider signing your workplace up for the Green Workplace Program.

Do you have any idea on how employees can get involved and improve sustainability on campus?
Please let us know; email us at sustainability@ucdavis.edu.

Health Sustainability Advocates

The Sustainability Advocates is a grassroots group of individuals that work for and within the UC Davis Health Sacramento campus. We have several subgroups that focus on specific sustainability efforts as detailed below on this page. For those interested in getting involved with any of our projects or those interested in starting new projects, please reach out directly using the emails provided for each subgroup, or to wcpevec@ucdavis.edu or cjmccorm@ucdavis.edu.

Subgroup	Subgroup chair	Members	Projects and Accomplishments
Administration and department commitments	William Pevec, Vascular Surgery wcpevec@ucdavis.edu	Chris Evans James Marcin Nate Kuppermann	- Funds have been allocated for departments to purchase items to make their operations more sustainable (e.g. reusable plates/cutlery, hydration flasks, water filters, laboratory equipment recycling).
Anesthetic gases	Nina Schloemerkemper, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine nschloemerkemper@ucdavis.edu		- Anesthetic gas use is being monitored, with efforts to reduce inhalational agents (which are greenhouse gases) - Efforts are being made to eliminate N2O for labor analgesia.
Composting	Andrew Hernandez, Radiology amhern@ucdavis.edu	William Pevec	- Efforts are being made to implement composting of organic food waste in the back of the house with plans to work on this issue in front of the house in the future. - Investigations are being made to identify a hauler that can accept and process compostable food packages, plates, bowls, cups, and utensils.
Garden	Constantine Dimitriades, Pediatrics cdimitriades@ucdavis.edu	Leigh Ann Aki Higa Jonathan Hu Lisa Kang	- The mission of this subgroup is to enhance patient/visitor/staff wellness through the addition of public green spaces. - Projects in the planning phase include gardens in the outdoor dining area and a rooftop garden in the new hospital tower project.
HVAC Setbacks / Energy Efficiency	William Pevec, Vascular Surgery wcpevec@ucdavis.edu	Naomi Hauser Jonathan Hu	- Three testing sessions have been completed to assess the clinical efficacy of reducing the number of air exchanges/hour in the operating rooms. Addtional testing is planned, with the goal of reducing air exhanges and thus decreasing energy consumption. - Audits of energy utilization throughout the medical center have or will be performed, and modifications made to decrease wasted energy consumption.
Pager Elimination	-	Joe Shen Scott Zakaluzny	- Options to eliminate pagers and disposable batteries are being explored.
Pharmacy Waste	Leyla Farshidpour, Medical Student lfarshid@ucdavis.edu	-	- Efforts are being evaluated to decrease pharmaceutical waste via dose and order placement modifications.
Reprocessing	Noah Canvasser, Urologic Surgery ncanvasser@ucdavis.edu	Marc Dal'Era Carter White	- UCDH already participates in programs with FDA-approved third-party vendors to collect and reprocess items labelled for single-user only. The aim is to increase participation, including collection and purchasing of reprocessed devices.
Resident Sustainability	Nina Schloemerkemper, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine nschloemerkemper@ucdavis.edu	David Barnes Chris Evans Nathan Kuppermann Kathyrn Conlon	- Proposal approved to have a yearly UC Health wide competition to award grants to fund sustainability projects that are resident led.
Reusable Gowns	William Pevec, Vascular Surgery wcpevec@ucdavis.edu	JoAnne Natale	- A pilot program replacing single-use with reusable isolation gowns has been conpleted. - Single-use isolation gowns have been replaced with reusable gown throughout the Emergency Department, and success/satisfaction/logistics are being analyzed. - Approval has been received to replace single-use with reusable isolation gowns through the medical center; implementation will be advocated.
Single-use plastic policy	William Pevec, Vascular Surgery wcpevec@ucdavis.edu	Colleen McCormick	- Implementation plan to eliminate/reduce single-use plastic in food service, retail, and clinical sites has been written and approved. Implementation will be on-going.
Styrofoam recylcing	Benjamin Pyles, Pharmacology brpyles@ucdavis.edu	-	- Styrofoam is used in packaging for laboratory materials, exempt from the UC ban. Options for packing are being explored, with the hope of eliminating Styrofoam packaging.
Transportation	-	David Barnes Ben Liu James Marcin Shreeya Raman	- Initiatives focus on decreasing commuting to UCDH in single-occupant vehicles, including improved bicycle infrastructure, changing parking payment methods, and expanding options for car-pooling and public transit.
Virtual Clinics	Peter Yellowlees, Psychiatry and Behavorial Sciences pmyellowlees@ucdavis.edu	Jennifer Ozeir Darolyn Striley	- Data are being collected on the energy savings achieved with the expansion of virtual clinics during the pandemic, with planned publication of a manuscript. - Efforts are also being made to enhance the quality of virtual clinic visits.
Waste	-	Teresita Calindas Noah Canvasser Leyla Farshidpour Naomi Hauser Jennifer Ozeir Amanda Rogers-Beckley Scott Zakaluzny Michael Jung	- Blue wrap is being recycled in the Operating Room, with plans for broader implementation. - Reduction in the use of blue wrap via increased use of rigid instrument trays is being advocated. - Replacement of disposable items of all sorts is being pursued (gowns, basins, bags, bottles, etc..). - Reduction in Operating Room waste related to spine surgery. - Efforts are being made to increase collection and reprocessing of EKG cables and monitoring probes.