Spring Intern- Sustainability

Description

MaineHealth Corporate

Professional - Nonclinical

Req #: 17925

Part-time: 8 hours/week

Hybrid (on-site and in person)

This is an opportunity to join the Sustainability team for the Spring semester, ending by May. Please submit a cover letter with your resume in order to be considered.

Summary:

The Intern role provides administrative and project support within assigned department, while gaining valuable, hands-on experience in a healthcare environment.

The Sustainability Department is dedicated to advancing environmental stewardship across the organization through strategic planning, operational improvements, and staff engagement and education. Sitting within Facilities Management, the department works collaboratively with key partners, including Engineering, Environmental Services (Housekeeping), Food and Nutrition Department, Supply Chain, Clinical Departments, and others. We work to build sustainable hospital operations, reduce waste and improve quality.

The Sustainability Department has five key focus areas:
1. Energy: Reducing energy consumption and transitioning to renewable energy sources.
2. Food: Promoting sustainable, low-carbon, ethical and local foods.
3. Transportation: Encouraging low-carbon commuting options and fleet improvements.

4. Waste: Minimizing waste generation by increasing reuse, reprocessing and recycling efforts.

5. Water: Conserving water resources and improving water efficiency.

Three primary focus areas guide the Sustainability Department's mission:
1. Decarbonization Goals: Supporting the organization's targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including achieving a 25% reduction by FY27 and reaching net zero by 2050.

2. Tracking and Improving Sustainability Performance: Continuously measuring and enhancing performance in the annual sustainability program areas to reduce the hospital's environmental impact and improve standings in the Practice Greenhealth Awards.
3. Creating a Culture of Sustainability: Providing opportunities for staff to participate in sustainability, and empowering staff to make environmentally conscious choices by ensuring that the environmentally preferred option is also the easiest and most practical choice.

The MaineHealth Sustainability Department intern will support hospital sustainability projects. Projects will be chosen based on department goals and the intern's interests, experiences, and strengths. Sample Projects:
* Waste Reduction Campaign: Develop and implement an educational campaign to engage staff in existing waste reduction initiatives, focusing on practical strategies to minimize landfill contributions.
* Green Lab Certification: Collaborate with laboratory teams to assess compliance with green lab standards, gather data, and provide recommendations to achieve certification.
* Recycling Process Improvement Plan: Analyze the current state of recycling practices at a hospital and develop a plan to increase recycling rates.
* Energy-Efficient Product Research: Investigate and evaluate energy-efficient products or technologies for healthcare facilities, producing a detailed report with recommendations.
* Greening the OR Business Model Development: Analyze and propose a business case for green OR activities like transitioning from single-use to reprocessed medical devices; analysis would include the environmental and financial costs/benefits.
* Committee Project Management: Help to direct hospital sustainability projects (ex: recycling implementation, energy analysis, waste reduction education, etc.) that are built and driven by hospital volunteer committee members.

Learn about sustainability, hospital operations, and project management through this highly collaborative role.

Preference will be given to undergraduate juniors and seniors or graduate students pursuing environmental science, business, education, public policy, data analytics, or related areas.

Required Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

1. Education: Student who is currently enrolled in a two-year Associate's Degree program, Bachelor's Degree program, or graduate-level program preferred.
2. License/Certifications: N/A
3. Experience: N/A
4. Additional Skills/Requirements Required: N/A
5. Additional Skills/Requirements Preferred: N/A

If you have questions about this role, please contact Alyssa K. Lewis at alyssa.lewis@mainehealth.org