On the Road with Practice Greenhealth

Practice Greenhealth at HPRC and Wisconsin Healthy Hospitals & Clinics Forum

Iqbal Mian, Member Engagement Manager

Earlier this fall, Practice Greenhealth along with various hospital systems, suppliers and manufacturers participated in the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council hosted at Goodwill, Los Angeles. The onsite work included interactive sessions, facilitated exercises and other brainstorming to advance the council’s mission to inspire and enable effective recycling solutions across health care. Practice Greenhealth members like Kaiser Permanente also presented their delivery of 5s (lean tool from Toyota) in specific facilities to drive cultural change and improvement on service lines.  During one particular exercise, an ah-ha moment included a theme we know all too often in health care; having a management system with clinical champions and senior leadership bolsters and accelerates the efforts around reduction and recovery.

Moreover, Iqbal Mian also joined over 150 participants, clinicians and senior leaders at the Wisconsin Healthy Hospitals and Clinics Forum in Madison, Wissonsin. Dr. Jeff Thompson, former CEO and sustainability advocate of Gundersen Health spoke to the wonderful advances in public health and the barriers senior leaders need to remove to allow employee engagement. He reminded the audience that finances are resource and the goal when improving the delivery of the patient care experience. The day was met with numerous sessions. Practice Greenhealth members like UW Health presented great strides made in healthy food programs and wowed the audience in powerful policies that promote collaboration and external partnerships to reduce negative impact (antibiotic and hormone free meat, pesticide and chemical free, 3rd party certifications, etc.)

Gemba Waste Walk @ Fairview Southdale with Practice Greenhealth

Iqbal Mian, Member Engagement Manager

Deep in purple rain and Viking territory, Fairview Southdale Hospital is showing its employees their dedication to sustainability. In October, Iqbal Mian, Member Engagement Manager, joined Wesli Waters, Sustainability and Supply Chain Project Manager and April Schumacher, Sustainability Coordinator, on a gemba waste walk. This entailed a review of waste generation areas and best practices the facility is implementing in various programs and visual management. From a robust and very well organized office reuse program to a well established process for blue wrap recycling, employees here are more than familiar with mitigation. It's incremental changes that Waters and Schumacher have helped push that adds to the patient care experience. While walking the floors, employees spoke of their challenges and celebrations including David Fashant, the Regional Director of Facilities, who completed OR setbacks and focusing on lighting load reductions through LEDs. Gemba waste walks, whether regular or infrequent, help to connect identify and eliminate waste as Fairview Southdale continues to champion sustainability among their clinical teams.

Chicago Women in Green Event at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital—sponsored by Practice Greenhealth/Health Care Without Harm

Peggy Rademaker, Membership Operations Manager

On September 13, Practice Greenhealth and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital hosted Chicago Women in Green – a leadership development and networking group in Chicago that sponsors local and regional events featuring experts promoting sustainable approaches to development. Eric Hoffman, Administrator, and his team at Lurie Children’s, provided tours for over 60 Chicago WIG attendees—highlighting the hospital’s outstanding emphasis on improving the health and lives of children, and their families, through expert award-winning care in it’s gorgeous LEED^® Gold facility.

Peggy Rademaker from Practice Greenhealth welcomed the group and showed the Health Care Without Harm video “Do No Harm”—to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Health Care Without Harm. Individuals representing several Practice Greenhealth Members, including Advocate Health Care and University of Chicago Medicine were there to celebrate the international, national, regional and local approach to improving community wellness throughout the Chicagoland area.

Thank you to Chicago Women in Green and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital for their support in hosting this wonderful event!

The Michigan Health & Hospital Association & The Michigan Green Healthcare Committee host the 9th Annual Michigan Green Healthcare Conference

Peggy Rademaker, Membership Operations Manager

On October 18 and 19, Practice Greenhealth members from across the Great Lakes State, Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Food in Health Care program and Practice Greenhealth, joined leaders from the Michigan Health & Hospital Association in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the 9th Annual Michigan Green Healthcare Conference. Michigan is the only state in the U.S. offering a statewide conference launched by the state hospital association entirely focused on sustainability as approached by Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm.

Michigan Health & Hospital Association has been an outstanding partner and leader in committing to a state-wide approach to health care sustainability. Today, nearly 100 hospitals, (over 75 percent of the hospitals in Michigan) are members of Practice Greenhealth, or have made a commitment to one ore more of the six Healthier Hospitals Challenges. Eight Michigan hospitals were also among the 2016 Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Award Winners!

This year MGHC began with tours of Bronson Methodist Hospital and Kalamazoo Valley Community College and an evening welcome reception at Food Dance. Then, reconvened on Wednesday morning with a breakfast and welcome from Brian Peters, CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, and Gary Cohen from Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth who greeted the group via video from Copenhagen, Denmark - where healthcare leaders from around the globe gathered at CleanMed Europe. Both talks  emphasized the local, state, national and global effort to build a healthier and more resilient health care sector, while addressing the health effects of climate change with sound sustainable solutions.

Conferences speakers and presenters from THRIVE Collaborative, Trinity Health: St. Joseph Mercy - Ann Arbor, BrownFlynn, Ascension Health, Spectrum Health, Grumman/Butkus, Resource Recycling Systems, Steelcase, Sustainable Research Group, and the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum provided a full day of learning as well as opportunities to share knowledge, expertise and best practices in sustainable health care.

As a demonstration of Michigan’s huge commitment to developing strategies for healthier and more sustainable food systems throughout the state, this year, Maureen Husek, Director, Nutrition and Retail Services, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak was honored with the MGHC Hometown Hero award in recognition of her years of support for healthier food, as well as her leadership in the expansion of the Michigan Apple Crunch throughout Beaumont Health. Through Maureen’s efforts, Beaumont Health patients, families and employees celebrated Food Day 2016 with a juicy, Michigan apple as part of the “Michigan Apple Crunch” initiative. The hospital also reached new heights in meeting standards set forth by The Michigan Good Food Charter, which challenges institutions to purchase 20 percent of food locally by 2020. Congratulations Maureen Husek and the team at Beaumont!

Congratulations to the Michigan Green Healthcare Committee on another fantastic event! Please contact Kristen Cavanagh-Strong, at MHA, for information about opportunities related to next year’s conference!