1199 Environmental Service workers at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, NY are kicking off a new training initiative to advance Crouse efforts as a sustainable and environmentally friendly healthcare facility. The program is a union, management, and 1199 Training and Upgrading Fund collaboration. The framework and curriculum for the project was created by the Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP), and has been successful at other hospitals throughout the nation. Under this new initiative, environmental service employees are trained in different areas such as waste reduction, increasing recycling, energy reduction and others. To make the project work, regular communication with other Crouse employees is going to be essential.



1199SEIU maintenance worker and Environmental Training Program Trainer, Liberty Latzkowski, feels a strong personal connection to the importance of this project. “As a young child in the 60s, I vividly remember roadside litter, ditches filled with foamy water, and commercials showing a Native American man with a tear coming down his cheek viewing the pollution,” Liberty said. “All these things made a huge, lifetime impact on me. In the 80’s when Onondaga County reinstated a recycling program, I was totally committed to it and am to this day.



”I was honored when Crouse and the union offered me the opportunity to be a part of the team focused on a ‘Green initiative.’ Crouse has stepped up and will ‘set the bar’ in Central NY by improving the impact it has on the environment. I am excited to be a trainer in a series of classes designed to bring awareness to the Environmental Services team at Crouse about how each of us can make a difference. I am proud to be a part of Crouse’s effort to positively impact our community.”