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CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital
Aaron Martinez, Grounds Manager at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System, leads the hospital's tree care initiatives, including mapping 90% of campus trees and organizing community tree seedling giveaways. Their investment in trees aligns with the hospital's core values, recognizing trees as vital to both environmental and community health.
Category
Trees in Communities
Topic
Tree Campus Healthcare
Location
Tyler, TX
Tree Champion
Aaron Martinez, Grounds Manager
About the tree champion
Aaron Martinez, Grounds Manager at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System, is a Certified Professional Grounds Manager and ISA Certified Arborist.
He tries to stay ahead of the curve on arboriculture events happening in Tyler, a recognized Tree City USA community. Outside his professional role, Aaron serves on the local tree committee.
Investment in Trees
How they invest in trees
How They Invest in Trees
The hospital has a campus tree care plan, with inventory currently 90% mapped. Off campus, the hospital hosts a community tree seedling giveaway in partnership with the City of Tyler Tree Committee and Keep Tyler Beautiful, focusing on the health benefits of trees. In the most recent annual event, 2,000 seedlings were given to community members at no cost. Hospital employees served as volunteers at the distribution event, and several ISA Certified Arborists were on hand answer questions about tree planting and care. In addition, the hospital, through its community benefits team, sponsors the City of Tyler’s Annual Arbor Day event.
Why They Invest in Trees
“Our investments in trees are tied into our System’s core value of Stewardship and allow us to make an impact on the health of our community through our environment. When I approach the organization, a particular project must advance our mission in order for me to make the case,” said Aaron. CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Tyler recognizes trees as an essential component of the community’s health and an important, living channel through which to spread the CHRISTUS mission.
Why Tree Campus Healthcare Is Important
“It is our business to be talking trees and health. As leaders in healthcare in Northeast Texas, we need to be responsible for everything we take care of — it falls within our mission and our core values,” said Aaron. Tree Campus Healthcare recognition provides a platform to create awareness of the health system’s stewardship of trees. “Communicating and outreach is crucial. A lot goes on around our campus — tree-related and otherwise — that people don’t know about. Getting the word out that we care about and advocate for this type of work — and the public should, too — is huge to me.” Recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation is meaningful for this facility because the organization aims to be a leader in talking about the connection between trees and human health.
Tree Campus Healthcare is an Arbor Day Foundation program in cooperation with our exclusive professional partner, The Davey Tree Expert Company, and alongside our partners at the Professional Grounds Management Society, Practice Greenhealth, and the USDA Forest Service.
Exclusive Professional Partner
Collaborators
