Sustainability and Resiliency Efforts Highlighted in New Episode of NYC Health + Hospitals Podcast The Remedy
Apr 21, 2026
NYC Health + Hospitals today released a new episode of its podcast, The Remedy, featuring leaders and health care providers from the nation’s largest municipal health care system. In Season 3 Episode 6: Inside NYC’s Sustainable Health Care Revolution Dr. Michael Shen speaks with Chief Decarbonization Officer Omer Cabuk and Director of Energy Programs and Project Delivery Tennille Santos to discuss how the public health care system is transforming its hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes by making them more sustainable, resilient, and efficient. From sweeping energy efficiency upgrades to large-scale rooftop solar projects, NYC Health + Hospitals has reduced operational carbon emissions by 30% since 2006, and plans to cut operational emissions in half by 2030. Tune in to hear more about how reducing energy use, slashing emissions, and preparing for climate disasters saves lives, strengthens hospitals, and creates more resilient, healthy communities. Season 3 Episode 6: Inside NYC’s Sustainable Health Care Revolution is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other podcast platforms.
“I’m proud to work in a hospital system that prioritizes sustainability,” said The Remedy Host Dr. Michael Shen. “After all, it’s the healthy choice – the greener we can be, the healthier our staff and patients will be for it.”
“Earth Day reminds us that protecting our environment is fundamental to protecting the communities we serve,” said Chief Decarbonization Officer Omer Cabuk. “At NYC Health + Hospitals, we’re reducing our operational emissions and strengthening resilience so our facilities can continue delivering care despite the climate challenges ahead while also reinvesting energy cost savings back into patient care.”
“Every sustainability initiative we undertake is not just about saving the planet but also about creating spaces that support the health and resilience of our patients, care givers, and the communities we serve,” said Director of Energy Programs and Project Delivery Tennille Santos. “I feel fortunate to help lead this purpose-driven effort that will have real and long-lasting impact for New York City.”
NYC Health + Hospitals’ role as a public hospital system and the major safety net health care system for New York City offers a singular voice that no other health care podcast can. It shows how the public health care system provides care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay; offers exciting ways to support patients, including new models of care to address behavioral health needs; and responds to the challenges that face New York City, including homelessness and the climate crisis. The host and guests are all employees of NYC Health + Hospitals with a special perspective on the work they do for patients.
Previous episodes of The Remedy cover the following topics:
Season 3
- Season 3 Episode 1: Healing Through Art: Creative Therapies at Rikers Island coversNYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services’ Creative Arts Therapy program, the oldest and largest jail-based arts therapy program in the nation.
- Season 3 Episode 2: Inside NYC’s Award-Winning Nursing Homes highlightsthe often-overlooked world of post-acute care.
- Season 3 Episode 3: Behind the Scenes at the Simulation Center cover how doctors, nurses, and staffrehearse everything from trauma and cardiac arrest to opioid overdose.
- Season 3 Episode 4: Redefining Mental Health Support with Bridge to Home covers how the first-of-its-kind transitional housing initiative supports patients with severe mental illness by providing a stable, home-like environment with onsite clinical and behavioral health care.
- Season 3 Episode 5: How Art Provides Healing in NYC Hospitals highlights how arts and creativity improve patient care, trust, equity, belonging, and combats health care worker burnout.
Season 2
- Season 2 Episode 1: Community Health Workers covers these workers’ vital role in bridging the gap between medical care and social needs like housing, food, and transportation. With over 250 community health workers, NYC Health + Hospitals has built one of the largest programs in the nation.
- Season 2 Episode 2: How NYC Care Helps Uninsured New Yorkers highlights how the program provides health care to low-income and uninsured New Yorkers — regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.
- Season 2 Episode 3: Treating Violence covers the critical work the public health system’s Hospital Violence Interruption programs (HVIP) do to prevent violence, save lives, and heal communities.
- Season 2 Episode 4: The New Ellis Island highlights the historic work of NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arrival Center, a central intake facility for all newly arriving asylum seekers run by NYC Health + Hospitals’ Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC) program.
- Season 2 Episode 5: Street Medicine in NYC covers the efforts of social workers the public health system’s Street Health Outreach + Wellness (SHOW) program, a street medicine program that provides medical care, behavioral health, and social services to New Yorkers who are experiencing homelessness or historically disconnected from care.
- Season 2 Episode 6: How AI Will Transform Healthcare in NYC covers how the public health system is using artificial intelligence to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and support its workforce.
- Season 2 Episode 7: No Wrong Door: Addiction Care in NYC covers how NYC Health + Hospitals is treating substance use disorder with a comprehensive approach—whether someone walks into an emergency room, seeks help at a methadone clinic, or connects through community outreach.
Season 1
- Season 1 Episode 1: The Power of Primary Care features three primary care doctors on how working with their patients informs their roles in leadership at NYC Health + Hospitals.
- Season 1 Episode 2: Food is Medicine recognizes that plant-based eating is powerful medicine – it can lower high blood pressure and bring type 2 diabetes into remission – and considers how hospitals can help their patients pursue a plant-based diet.
- Season 1 Episode 3: Ready for the Next Pandemic considers how New York City’s public hospital system has consistently answered the challenge of Ebola, COVID-19, and mpox all while staying ahead of the latest health crisis.
- Season 1 Episode 4: Women’s Health considers how New York City’s public hospital system is expanding access to women’s health care in a time when many women across the country are facing restricted access to care.
- Season 1 Episode 5: Caring for the Newest New Yorkers covers how the staff at NYC Health + Hospitals are rising to the challenge of caring for the over 175,000 asylum seekers who have come to our city since spring 2022.
- Season 1 Episode 6: Caring for Homeless Patients covers how NYC Health + Hospitals serves its over 70,000 patients who are experiencing homelessness.
- Season 1 Episode 7: Helping Healers Heal covershow NYC Health + Hospitals supports the mental health of its more than 40,000 health care workers.
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlusHealth —all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.