Katie Cox is a true Ithaca healthcare hero, serving as a nurse and practice manager at REACH Medical. But in the winter of 2022, while she was busy taking care of our community, Katie faced a challenge of her own: her home’s hot water heater and heating system broke down, leaving her family without heat for nearly a month in the dead of winter.

Not one to sit back and let the cold win, Katie took action! She reached out to Halco for a home energy audit, and the amazing team there came up with a plan to make her home not just warm, but energy-efficient and affordable for the winters to come. They improved the weatherization, added insulation to keep the house cozy, and replaced the broken water heater with a high-efficiency heat pump water heater. Katie was grateful for the support, saying that Halco “did a great job in terms of reaching out to help me with resources and pulling everything together,” including connecting her to a Finger Lakes Climate Fund grant!

Fast forward a year and a half, and Katie is thrilled with the results. She happily shares that these upgrades have “cut down our costs pretty significantly.” She’s especially loving her new on-demand water heater, which provides reliable and affordable hot water all year long. And the cherry on top? Katie’s home-energy improvements have also prevented an impressive 23.24 tons of carbon emissions from entering our atmosphere!

A healthcare hero, a family hero, AND a climate hero – Katie truly embodies a triple threat! Let’s give a round of applause for Katie Cox, the 82nd Finger Lakes Climate Fund Awardee!