The High Alert Institute combines decades of disaster-readiness experience with environmental stewardship, to mitigate risks & impact of climate change.
LAKE WALES, Fla., Dec. 10, 2023 /CNW/ – The High Alert Institute, Inc. (a 501c3 Public Charity) was recognized on December 3rd by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for its public commitments to decarbonizing its operations, advancing technologies to help healthcare institutions meet their sustainability obligations and improving resilience in the face of climate change. Much of this outstanding work was achieved with the help of technology from Lomi.
As part of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), HHS shared that the High Alert Institute was one of more than 130 organizations representing over 900 hospitals as well as leading health centers, suppliers, insurance companies, group purchasing organizations, pharmaceutical companies and more. that have joined the White House-HHS Health Sector climate pledge, committing to align with the Biden administration’s goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Federal systems like the Indian Health Service (IHS), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Military Health System (MHS) are working together to meet similar goals to those private sector organizations have embraced. Combined, this means that more than 1,110 federal and private sector hospitals have made such commitments, together representing more than 15% of U.S. hospitals.
Founded in 2002, the High Alert Institute has worked to achieve carbon negative operations and climate resilience since 2012. In addition to setting a new bar in carbon negativity for healthcare by repaying to the grid all power used at its Florida facility dating back to the beginning of renovations in October 2014, the High Alert Institute recycles over 95% of all solid and liquid waste produced. Shortly after becoming a signatory to the White House-HHS Health Sector climate pledge, the High Alert Institute formed ALOHA, a joint venture between non-profit and for-profit companies to develop and deploy software solutions to improve resilience in the face of climate change and other disasters.
“Lomi is a team of innovators dedicated to creating a waste-free future. We’re on a mission to leave the planet better than how we found it and we’re starting by eliminating more than 10 billion pounds of waste,” explains Lomi founder Jeremy Lang. “We are honored and excited that the High Alert Institute has employed our technology to regenerate their soil and achieve their goal of 95% reduction in waste and are eager to see how Lomi technology could be a part of the solution to reduce healthcare facility solid waste streams in the future.”
“Lomi is the second food waste reduction technology that the Institute has evaluated,” Maurice A. Ramirez, DO, PhD, Co-Founder & Chairperson for the High Alert Institute states smiling. “Lomi’s device is far and away the best engineered, simplest to maintain and operate and has phenomenal support. With 6,210 hospitals across the United States, the healthcare system is a larger player in the production of waste. Nearly 15% percent of healthcare trash is food waste. We look forward to the release of the commercial version as we believe Lomi technology could help the healthcare sector meet one third of the Biden administration’s goal of reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare.”
A September 2021 consensus statement from more than 200 medical journals named climate change the number one threat to global public health. It exposes millions of people in the United States to harm every year—with disproportionate impacts on communities that are often already the victims of longstanding discrimination—through increases in extreme heat waves, wildfires, flooding, vector-borne diseases and other factors that worsen chronic health conditions. The healthcare sector also contributes to climate change itself, accounting for approximately 8.5% of U.S. domestic emissions.
The HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, developed the White House/HHS Health Sector Climate Pledge to help focus industry response to climate challenges. In addition to reducing their carbon footprint, signatories also commit to producing detailed plans to prepare their facilities for both chronic and acute catastrophic climate impacts.
https://www.hhs.gov/ash/ocche
High Alert Institute, Inc. is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to All Hazards, One Health, One Nature (AHOHN) objectives. The Institute focuses on four AHOHN areas of impact:
- Disaster Readiness & Business Continuity Education/Resources, including tools for planning and fostering empathy/resilience
- Animal Care and Welfare, including shelter and rescue
- Environmental Stewardship & Determinants of Health, including mitigation and remediation of pollutants that negatively impact plant, animal, and human health and a DOH Big Data Analysis
- Space Healthcare, Autonomous Health Systems, and AHOHN Innovations
https://www.HighAlertInstitute.org
Lomi is a company answering the question, “What if waste was optional?”. As a Certified B Corporation and a Climate Neutral Certified company, Lomi is on a mission to eliminate 10 Billion pounds of waste from the global waste stream by 2028 and convert it into 2 Billion pounds of Lomi Earth, a nutrient-rich amendment for soil. Lomi researches and develops the most innovative products toward one goal: to create a waste-free future. To learn more about Lomi, visit https://lomi.com
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