Yesterday

Pilgrim Manor is excited to see all sorts of exciting things happening in our environmental stewardship since December of 2007!

Health Care Association of Michigan Presentation

Every year, the Health Care Associated of Michigan (HCAM) holds a four day convention for long-term care professionals. This convention is filled with keynote speakers, break-out sessions and vendor fairs. This year Pilgrim Manor’s Environmental Stewardship Coordinator, Lara Webster, was selected to conduct a break-out session on ‘Sustainability in Long-Term Care’. During the session, participants learned what sustainability looks like within the context of long-term care and were provided resources for their organization. If your organization is interested in resources, please contact Lara Webster – lwebster@pilgrimmanor.org.

The Pilgrim Manor Green Team was formed in fall 2006 and is composed of residents and staff representatives from multiple departments in the facility. It serves as the advisory and directing committee for all the ‘green’ work that Pilgrim Manor does in the facility.

Congratulations Pilgrim Manor, Michigan’s newest Clean Corporate Citizen! This Clean Corporate Citizen award is given by the Michigan Dept of Environmental Quality to organizations in Michigan that have developed and implemented international quality “Environmental Management Systems.” Pilgrim Manor’s “Environmental Stewardship System” or ESS is a set of policies and procedures that measure our impact on the environment, and then help us set goals to reduce those impacts. Our ESS has helped us by reducing our waste, reducing our energy use, and making sure that we are in compliance with environmental regulations. We’re the first long-term care facility in Michigan to receive this award, and we couldn’t have done it without all the hard work of our staff and residents from recycling to collecting and distributing blue bins and installing light bulbs! Thank you!

In the fall of 2007, Pilgrim Manor designed, planned, and planted a rain garden with native Michigan plants, in an area of our yard that has significant stormwater run-off. The design was done with the help of residents and staff of the facility. Calvin College and Aquinas College students did the digging and planting. Native plants for the garden were donated by Sandi DeHaan, WMEAC Rain Garden & Nursery, Mary Milanowski, Ila Flo Barfuss, Loraine Tarchinski, and Patricia Pennell, while Creekside Garden Center generously donated the mulch we needed. The rain garden was and is truly a community effort.

Pilgrim Manor conducted a “Light Bulb Sunday” fundraiser and educational event for eleven of its twenty-two Shareholder churches to raise the 750 compact fluorescent light bulbs needed by the facility. This light bulb switch is expected to save nearly $12,000 in annual energy costs, and reduce Pilgrim Manor’s carbon footprint by 649,305 pounds of carbon dioxide. We met our goal of 750 bulbs in December 2007!

Pilgrim Manor’s Green Team writes and composes a quarterly newsletter for residents and staff; the Manor TREE. This newsletter is distributed throughout the building and has information about current issues in Sustainability, take home tips, and news about what is going on in ‘green’ at the Manor! It’s printed on 100% recycled, Process Chlorine Free (PCF) paper.

Pilgrim Manor has established a recycling program, partnering with the City of Grand Rapids WasteNot program. Pilgrim Manor provides facility wide recycling for plastic, metal, glass, batteries, ink cartridges, cardboard, paper products, and computer technology.