Sharing in the work to build a more sustainable future

One of the questions I’m asked most often about sustainability at Indiana University Health is a deceptively simple one: Where do you even begin?

My answer is always the same. Sustainability doesn’t begin with one person, one department, or one title. It begins the moment we decide that caring for the future is inseparable from caring for each other. And that belief has been part of IU Health’s DNA for a very long time.

When we launched IU Health’s sustainability initiative with $1.1 million in philanthropic support through the IU Health Foundation, we weren’t funding a single project or checking a box. We were investing in a shared conviction:

A health system dedicated to making Indiana the healthiest state must also safeguard the world Hoosiers rely on to live, work and thrive.

Healthcare exists to heal — but healing doesn’t stop at the bedside. It extends to the air our patients breathe, the water our communities rely on, and the resources we steward so future generations can receive the same — or even better care than we do today. It means acknowledging that only about 20% of health outcomes are driven by clinical care, and that the other 80% are shaped by the environment, our choices, and the systems around us.

That’s why sustainability matters so deeply in healthcare. And while it can’t be one person’s job, some of the most powerful examples of what sustainability looks like begin with one person who decides to care just a little more.

Honoring a legacy of care

For more than 13 years, Matt Orszulak served IU Health Arnett Hospital in Food & Nutrition Services with quiet dedication and integrity. Alongside his daily responsibilities, Matt took it upon himself to lead informal recycling efforts in the hospital kitchen — collecting plastic containers and large cans and taking them home to recycle. Not because it was required. But because it mattered to him.

When Matt passed away last July, his loss was deeply felt by his team. And with that loss came a desire to carry forward the values he lived every day.

After learning more about Matt’s efforts, team members from across IU Health — including IU Health Foundation and leaders in our North Region — came together to ensure his work didn’t end with him. In Matt’s honor, the IU Health Foundation approved one year of funding to sustain and grow the kitchen recycling program at Arnett Hospital, continuing his legacy in a very real and meaningful way.

What stays with me isn’t just the recycling program itself. It’s what the story tells us about who we are at IU Health.

One team member noticed an opportunity to do better. A team cared enough to keep it going. And a health system came together to honor a colleague whose actions reflected our deepest values.

A system-wide commitment

That same spirit — thousands of thoughtful, everyday decisions made by people across our organization — helped IU Health earn The Joint Commission’s Sustainable Healthcare Certification in 2025. This recognition wasn’t about one initiative or one moment. It was about a culture taking shape across hospitals, departments, and roles — a shared understanding that sustainability is part of delivering high-quality care.

One of our core values at IU Health is TEAM: We count on and care for each other.

Sustainability lives at the heart of that value. Every time a team member reduces waste, conserves energy, rethinks a process, or makes a healthier choice, sustainability moves from strategy to culture. And when it becomes culture, it becomes lasting.

An Earth Month invitation

As we celebrate Earth Month, I invite every IU Health team member—and our colleagues and champions for healthcare—to take one small but meaningful step: Register for the One Healthcare Eco Challenge.

It’s an easy, engaging way to explore how everyday actions — related to food, energy, transportation and more — connect to our health, our environment, and our shared future.

Sustainability is not a side initiative at IU Health. It is an expression of who we are: A team that counts on and cares for each other — and understands that the health of our people and the health of our planet are inseparable.

This Earth Month, I couldn’t be more proud of the impact IU Health is making — and more excited about where we’re headed together.