Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, certified for Wildlife at Work, was one of 16 entities honored by the Detroit Free Press as a Michigan Green Leader. More than 250 nominees were submitted for this statewide honor.
The Free Press established the awards in 2010 “to identify the best practices and the true leaders pulling us forward” toward a sustainable future, said Free Press Deputy Managing Editor Randy Essex. This year’s honorees are “all working to preserve resources, protect health and move toward a diversified, sustainable economy. Other awardees include established corporate leaders, green business entrepreneurs, Michigan politicians and nonprofits.
Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, which received its Wildlife at Work certification in 2009, was built with a focus on community wellness, taking full advantage of the link between wellness and access to nature. The hospital has two green roofs and partners with local farms to provide produce for the kitchen, which features patient education programs in healthy eating. Most of the patient rooms overlook one of the hospital’s wildlife habitat areas, a detention pond that was naturalized and hosts migrating waterfowl and resident egrets, ducks and geese.
