Every Drop Counts – Earth Day 2023

This Earth Day, DOC focused on water conservation education through our Every Drop Counts event. The month-long effort helped further DOC’s annual sustainability goals by tasking property management teams to engage our health care partners in water conservation educational activities and initiatives. Reducing water usage at the property level positively impacts DOC and our health care partners, and even small changes can often yield significant results. Across the DOC  portfolio, more than 100 properties held events, shared information, and engaged our health care partners by highlighting the importance of water conservation.

Here is just a small sampling of what we collectively achieved this Earth Day:

• Our Phoenix, AZ, property management team of Mercedes Marquez and Sandy Manos offered a trivia game with questions related to water conservation. Each participant was entered into a drawing for larger prizes, and all participants were invited to select from a variety of giveaways, including toilet leak detection tablets, eco-friendly reusable bags, and small succulent plants.
• Jen Scott, DOC’s Hartford, CT property manager, sent broadcast messages to her tenants via Building Engines with water-saving tips. She also worked with her management team to optimize property irrigation systems.
• In Dover, DE, Trish Johnson, CSA manager at Eden Hill Medical Center, held a water conservation trivia contest with all participants receiving a small succulent plant. In addition, to remind tenants to conserve water, she provided each suite with Every Drop Counts removable stickers to affix to their in-suite bathroom mirrors.
• Brian Morath, with RAP Management in Rochester, NY, challenged his tenants to reduce water consumption through simple, achievable actions such as asking them to report leaks, inspect janitorial closets, staff restrooms and breakrooms, and remind co-workers, via laminated signs placed by in-suite sinks, to turn off the water when washing hands. Tenants then documented their actions via photos culminating in a prize drawing.
• Our Atlanta, GA-based Realty Trust Group team, comprised of Von Terry, Alishia Martin, Christen Crossett, Angie Holton, Robin Costello, and Marissa Anguiano, hosted an Earth Day succulent grab-and-go event, where they shared the importance of conserving water, not only when caring for succulents, but in everyday life. The team also worked with eWaste ePlanet to offer electronics recycling to their tenants.
• In Omaha, NE, the DOC management team of Ben Chrystak and Daneen Galvez held their Annual Manager Meetings to coincide with Earth Day, bringing practice managers together within each building to discuss past and future projects, Kingsley survey areas for improvement, DOC’s ESG goals, including this year’s Earth Day focus, and other building care issues. In addition, each participant received a reusable water bottle with the Every Drop Counts logo.
• Cornerstone’s Indianapolis, IN, and Grand Blanc, MI management teams, which include Megan Drummond, Chanelle Mitchell, and Stephanie Decker, sent weekly emails to their buildings with fun facts about water conservation, promoted an Earth Day raffle, and encouraged recycling plastic bottles by trading them in for reusable bottles or succulents.
• Patricia Ball, our Lincoln Harris manager in El Paso, TX, gifted tenants DIY terrarium jars and plants.
• The Cambridge Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX, management team of Wendy Martin and Jolene Wilson made plantable flower seed bombs from old company letterhead and flower seeds donated by their landscape vendors, which were then handed out to building tenants. Waste Management and janitorial service providers assisted by donating to the event. The team shared informational pamphlets about Earth Day and ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• The Houston-area & Austin, TX, team of Autumn Bay, Angie Gabriel, and Isabela Rivademar, set up a selfie booth outfitted with an Earth Day backdrop to help share DOC’s water conservation message. In addition to photos, the team passed out seed packets, flyers with water-saving tips, earth stress balls, and succulent plants.

Thank you to our property managers and health care partners who participated in DOC’s 2023 Earth Day celebration. Together, we all helped reinforce the message that Every Drop Counts!

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of ENERGY STAR, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing commercial real estate companies pursuing ENERGY STAR certifications for their properties through their “Certification Nation 2022” platform. DOC is proud to have earned “Premier Member” status by receiving 26 new certifications in 2022 (along with 10 retroactive certifications for properties previously ineligible before the U.S. Department of Energy restarted the program for medical real estate). An ENERGY STAR Certification is a trusted environmental label in the U.S., and as a long-term partner of the program, DOC continually incorporates better environmental impact principles into our business thoughtfully and responsibly. Congratulations to our entire DOC team on this outstanding achievement, and a special thanks to Libby Langenderfer for all of her help!

Newly certified ENERGY STAR properties include:

• Avondale MOB | Avondale, AZ
• Palm Valley MOB | Goodyear, AZ
• Abrazo Scottsdale MOB | Phoenix, AZ
• North Mountain MOB | Phoenix, AZ
• Fountain Hills Medical Campus | Fountain Hills, AZ
• Westgate MOB | Glendale, AZ
• Medical Arts Center at Hartford | Plainville, CT
• Peachtree Dunwoody Medical Center | Atlanta, GA
• Northside Center Pointe | Atlanta, GA
• Carmel Medical Pavilion | Carmel, IN
• Indiana American 2 | Greenwood, IN
• UofL Health – Mary & Elizabeth MOB II | Louisville, KY
• Doctors Community Hospital POB | Lanham, MD
• Southdale Place | Edina, MN
• Dell MOB | Chanhassen, MN
• Vadnais Heights MOB | Vadnais Heights, MN
• MHealth Clinic & Specialty Center | Maplewood, MN
• St Alexius – Medical Arts Pavilion | Bismarck, ND
• Midlands One Professional Center | Papillion, NE
• Missionary Ridge MOB | Chattanooga, TN
• 3100 Lee Trevino Drive | El Paso, TX
• Carrollton MOB | Carrollton, TX
• Strictly Pediatrics Specialty Center | Austin, TX
• Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center | Dallas, TX
• Bridgeport Medical Center | Lakewood, WA
• Renaissance Office Building | Milwaukee, WI

Learn more about ENERGY STAR’s “Certification Nation” here.

As part of our Earth Day celebration last month, DOC challenged its property management team to “Step Up to the Plate and Swing for Savings” – a month-long effort to help meet DOC’s annual sustainability goals by reducing energy usage and increasing energy efficiency throughout our portfolio. Our property managers and health care partners implemented no- and low-cost energy savings projects as part of our Energy Savings Home Run Derby, and we were blown away by the results. By month’s end, 103 properties participated, collectively implementing nearly 800 no- or low-cost energy savings measures!

Here’s just a sampling of what we achieved together this Earth Day:

• In Bismarck, ND, Julie Helten, Davis senior property manager who oversees DOC’s 8-property portfolio, challenged her tenants with weekly projects ranging from activating sleep settings on electronics to replacing desk light bulbs with more efficient LED lighting.
• Dana Klein and Eileen Baisley of Landmark Healthcare Facilities, who manage DOC’s four-property NY/NJ portfolio, created an energy scorecard for their tenants. Ideas included turning off lights when not in use, using the sleep mode on computer monitors, and adjusting blinds to optimize natural light.
• The team managing DOC’s six-building Atlanta portfolio–Lauren Alexander, Von Terry, Kendall Snyder, JoLyn Adams, and Latoya Holden of Realty Trust Group–partnered with their service providers to offer educational events at multiple properties. In addition, they shared ideas on how to reduce our carbon footprint at work, at home, and on the go.
• In Katy, TX, Paul Stamatis, who leads the team managing our two-building portfolio, planned a gathering for Earth Day to inspire his tenants to save energy at work and home while also engaging the group in planting new trees on the property.
• Elease Benson of Lincoln Harris CSG – Healthcare Group created a “Price is Right”-style game for her tenants to raise awareness about energy waste and positive energy savings activities.
• Stephanie Decker, Cornerstone Companies property manager for DOC’s Grand Blanc, MI property, sent weekly emails to tenants, including an energy knowledge quiz and the property’s energy savings report.
• Angela Zarate, Amie Washburn, and Annette Daniel, DOC’s team managing the Columbus, OH portfolio, partnered with their janitorial service provider to hold events at two properties. The group donned baseball caps and t-shirts and shared a variety of healthy snacks, fun facts, and other energy savings information, including pollinator wildflower seed packets, stress balls, Earth Day-themed cookie pops, and a grab-and-go lunch.
• In Nebraska, Ben Chrystak, who manages a 13-property portfolio, centered his initiative around educating tenants on how easy-to-make small adjustments can make a significant impact.
• Susan Leinweaver, DOC senior property manager overseeing our Dallas, TX portfolio, held an Earth Day with a musical and artistic element. The day featured speakers, a piano player, an art show, and sustainably decorated display tables decked out with energy savings information and helpful tips.

We want to thank our management partners and our fantastic DOC team of property managers. We appreciate the many creative ways you stepped up to the plate and challenged our tenants to swing for savings!

DOC is thrilled to join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and thousands of other organizations across the country in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the EPA’s first voluntary climate initiative, Green Lights. In the 30 years of the EPA’s commitment to fostering climate change partnerships, we’ve collectively made some tremendous strides. Through EPA partnership programs such as ENERGY STAR, GreenChill, SmartWay, and others, American families and businesses have saved $500 billion over the past 30 years while leading the way towards a more sustainable future for our planet and for each other.

For our part, we are proud to be an ENERGY STAR climate partner since 2014, and we were honored to be recognized as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in 2021. Through our ongoing commitment to sustainability – detailed in our annual ESG report at staging.docreit19.flywheelsites.com/esg – we are committed to tackling the climate crisis and leading the way to a clean energy economy. The work that we do in partnership with the EPA results in smart solutions that not only strengthen our business but improve the lives of our health care partners and their patients as well as the health of our planet. Learn more at www.epa.gov/30climate.