Appleton Medical Center project targets sustainability

To reduce costs and improve efficiency, the Appleton Medical Center, a member of Thedacare, made its new nine-story addition to its facility as sustainable as possible.

The project included energy-efficient lighting, new boilers and solar water heating to supply domestic hot water to patients’ rooms and nursing floors. The measures provide substantial savings and help achieve sustainability goals.

Incentives provided by both We Energies and Focus on Energy helped the Appleton Medical Center install a 48-panel, drain-back solar system in 2010. Since its installation, the panels have provided the thermal equivalent of more than 20,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, saving more than $13,000 per year in energy costs.

On a sunny, zero-degree day in January 2011, the fluid temperature in the panels was 190 degrees. Through a heat exchanger, the fluid was able to heat water in the storage tanks to more than 150 degrees – several degrees hotter than the recommended maximum temperature for any domestic water heating system.

“The system is expected to supply more than 85 percent of the total year-round hot water needs for the new 75-bed addition,” according to Cliff Schneider, AMC Facilities manager. “We’ve been very pleased with this decision as it’s nearly maintenance free and reduces our environmental footprint.”   

Prior to construction, a series of neighborhood meetings were held about the new addition, and the solar panel arrays were designed to minimize visibility from the street.

The total project cost was approximately $168,000, with incentives from We Energies and Focus on Energy covering more than $117,000.

In giving, this group of volunteers received

A dozen of our customer operations supervisors received more than they gave when they shared their time at a meal program on Milwaukee’s south side in August. The 12 customer service and field service supervisors volunteered for an event hosted by The Gathering.

The volunteers worked together for three hours in the late afternoon and early evening, assisting with final food preparation, set up, serving and cleanup. Besides sharing their time, they surprised The Gathering staff with a donation of nine gallons of milk and four containers of coffee, paid with money pooled by the group.

“We had the privilege to not only serve but speak with members of the community who were either homeless or living on a very limited income,” said Jennifer Eisner, customer service supervisor – WAOC, who organized the activity for her peers. “Many of the people who were served didn’t know where their next meal would come from. Though these individuals may struggle daily with circumstances most of us may never encounter, they had wonderful attitudes and outlooks on life. They were pleasant, polite and hopeful for a change in their near future.”

Eisner said the team found the opportunity to serve to be an overwhelmingly positive experience. “The smiles and meaningful words of appreciation were more than we expected and could ask for,” she said. “The experience was humbling, inspiring and motivating. When we left The Gathering, we were already talking about volunteering at The Gathering again and devoting time to other places, people or activities that may need our help.”

Contact center's assistance on 9-11 revealed

Our customer contact center's role in the hours following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were reported in news coverage about the event's 10th anniversary.

After the attacks, the U.S. Department of Justice contacted us to ask if we could lend our call center expertise to be a point of contact for family and friends of victims who were seeking information about loved ones who may have been among the thousands who were injured, killed or missing. More than 700 employees – from the contact center and other departments – handled more than 14,000 calls from concerned family members in a little more than two days following the attacks.

Employees interviewed by WISN-TV shared their personal recollections:
WISN-TV report

Crews work to repair extensive Fox Valley damage

Our crews are cutting and clearing many trees in the Fox Valley so they can replace poles or re-string power lines that came down during a storm late this morning with winds near 80 mph that knocked out power to more than 45,000 customers Friday.

Crews from other areas were sent to assist in the Fox Valley restoration effort. In addition to the work of We Energies forestry crews, Appleton’s forestry department is helping clear the city’s main thoroughfares. When the damaged trees are removed, restoration of power can begin.

Due to the extensive damage across several counties in the Fox Valley, the restoration will take longer than usual. While some customers are being restored today, we estimate that it will be late Sunday or early Monday morning before most repairs are completed.

We remind customers to stay away from any line that is down and anything touching it. Always assume a power line is energized.

Customers can view the extent of the outages on our outage map. 

Line crews travel to Rhode Island to assist with power restoration following Hurricane Irene

Responding to a call for assistance, we sent sent 29 employees — four managers and supervisors, 24 line personnel and one fleet technician — to Providence, R.I., to help restore power knocked out by Hurricane Irene. The crews left the Racine Service Center Aug. 31, around 9:30 a.m. to assist National Grid.

The caravan forms for the trip to Rhode Island.

Local news coverage:

WTMJ 4

WITI 6


WDJT 58 

Employees' bike donations start journey toward helping others

Employees rolled into our West Allis Operations Center last Saturday to drop off 57 gently used bikes and one trike -- all to help others in a number of ways. 

Welcoming the arrival of the donated wheels was the staff of DreamBikes, a nonprofit organization that refurbishes bikes and re-sells them at reasonable prices, primarily to families in low-income communities. A number of the bikes donated by our employees will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee on behalf of We Energies. 

DreamBikes hires youth enrolled in the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee Area’s Career Launch Program, which helps teens from 14 to 18 years of age learn skills related to computer systems, bicycle repair, customer service and sales, all while under professional management in a safe environment. DreamBikes always welcomes used bikes for its inventory as well as donations of time, money and materials. Learn more at http://dream-bikes.org/.

Employees assist Wounded Warriors Project

Employees in a number of We Energies departments often decide to get involved in volunteer projects as team-building efforts or just to take action when they think it's the right thing to do. Earlier this year, Supply Chain employees felt it was right to get involved in the Wounded Warriors Project, which supports returning military service people who require hospitalization or rehabilitation due to injuries received while deployed.

“Many of our employees, friends or family members are or have been deployed to the Middle East,” explained Gail DeVeau, director – supply chain. DeVeau learned about the Wounded Warriors Project from a high school classmate during their high school reunion last summer. He told her about his involvement in the project. “Shortly after that, one of our supply chain employees was redeployed to Afghanistan. He had been seriously injured on a previous deployment,” she said.

DeVeau brought the idea back to her team. “This was a great way for us to help and to demonstrate that we care,” she said. Wounded Warriors asked the group to collect 500 bottles of Axe shower gel and 500 Gillette razors.

Employees responded enthusiastically. They exceeded the goal on both items. The shower gel and razors were stuffed into backpacks along with other donations and sent to four hospitals where wounded service people are treated.