Medical center receives second Energy Star award

  • Published
  • By Steve Pivnick
  • 81st Medical Group Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Keesler Medical Center has earned its second consecutive Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Award.

Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Kory Cornum, 81st Medical Group commander, presented the 2013 award to facility manager Michael Chatham, 81st Medical Support Squadron, during the Feb. 11, executive staff meeting.

The general commended Chatham's foresight during reconstruction of the facility following the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastation which incorporated many energy-conservation elements.

A letter to Cornum from the Air Force Medical Support Agency accompanying the award noted, "The receipt of an Energy Star serves as recognition that your facility, when compared against other medical facilities across the United States, has distinguished itself by exceptional efforts in energy conservation. To receive an Energy Star, your facility must earn a 75 out of a possible 100 points. Kessler Medical Center is in the upper 21st percentile of all medical health-care facilities in the United States with a score of 79. Furthermore, Keesler Medical Center is one of only eight recipients across the Air Force Medical Service who received the 2013 Energy Star."

"The single largest factor that influences this level of conservation is behavior modification; therefore, it took leadership 'buy in' and support from you and your executive team to make this award a reality."