Hershey Medical Center awarded Tree Campus Healthcare designation
Campus is one of 35 inpatient health care facilities nationwide to earn recognition
The Arbor Day Foundation has named Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center a Tree Campus Healthcare institution for the third year in a row, a recognition that designates the Medical Center as a champion of trees and the environment.
“This designation highlights our ongoing commitment to providing a safe, inviting, healing and sustainable environment for our patients, faculty, staff and visitors to our campus,” said Steven Furmanski, manager of grounds and waste processing at the Medical Center.
Over the years, the Medical Center has hosted an annual tree-planting event in conjunction with Earth Day, when volunteers plant 100 native seedlings on campus. To date, just under 4,000 seedlings have taken root and another 100 were on deck for this year’s tree-planting ceremony on Friday, April 21.
The annual tree-planting ceremony is held in the reforestation area of the Hershey campus on Friday, April 21.
“We have also continued to manage campus grounds in accordance with our Landscape Master Plan which, since implementation in 2015, has resulted in the conversion of over 26 acres to native meadows, the installation of over 1.2 acres of native landscape features, retrofitting over 7 acres of stormwater management basins and the planting of over 300 landscape trees,” Furmanski said.
In addition to the Tree Campus Healthcare designation, the Medical Center has maintained its Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship certification and Pennsylvania Certified Tree Farm designation.
The Professional Grounds Management Society also awarded the Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine campus its Grand Award in their 2022 Green Star Awards competition.
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