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By Gary Cohen, Practice Greenhealth and Health Care Without Harm president
2017 has been a year of uncertainty. We saw some of the largest demonstrations in modern history, including the Women’s March, the People’s Climate March, and the March for Science. At the same time, it felt like the planet held its own demonstration.
In just over six weeks, the United States and surrounding areas were hit by four major hurricanes. The estimated costs for hurricanes Harvey and Irma combined are between $150-200 billion. Puerto Rico still has half of the island without power. On the other side of the… Read More
Type: Press
By Beth Eckl, Practice Greenhealth Environmental Purchasing program director
You’ve secured leadership support, built a team of colleagues who were successful in getting an environmental purchasing policy adopted, and now it’s time to select environmentally preferable products and services. So which contracts should you begin with? And how do you prioritize among hundreds of purchasing opportunities?
Setting priorities enables organizations to focus on the highest value opportunities to drive sustainable development.
Some choose to begin with a strong business case for targeting products… Read More
Type: Press
What began as an employee engagement campaign at Gundersen Health System blossomed into a project aimed at inspiring health care landscapers across the country.
Gundersen Envision, a subsidiary of Gundersen Health System, developed Udderly Green organic soil amendment products in collaboration with Purple Cow Organics.
The venture is rooted in Gundersen Envision’s dairy digester biogas renewable energy project in Middleton, Wis., one of the health care system’s many clean energy projects.
Planting a seed
Several years ago, Gundersen Health System and Dane County in Wisconsin partnered… Read More
Type: Press
How 1 hospital is saving $20k a month and reducing GHGs
By Kaeleigh Sheehan, Practice Greenhealth Greening the OR and member engagement manager
With mounting threats posed to human health from climate change, more health care facilities are focusing on opportunities to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And anesthesia practice has come under an increasing level of scrutiny and interest since anesthetic gases (most commonly desflurane, sevoflurane, isoflurane, and nitrous oxide) used for patient care are greenhouse gases.
During a procedure, only about 5 percent of administered… Read More
Type: Press
The U.S. Health Care Climate Council has welcomed two new members. University of California Health (UC Health) and Rochester Regional Health have joined the leadership body of health systems committed to protecting their patients and employees from the health impacts of climate change and becoming anchors for resilient communities.
As part of the University of California system, UC Health is working toward 100 percent reliance on clean electricity supplies across its campuses and UC Health’s medical centers by 2025. This dovetails with the university’s prior pledge to become operationally… Read More
Type: Press
For the first time, we’re providing all Practice Greenhealth members with access to view the more than 60 CleanMed sessions for free. Take advantage of this added member benefit to learn from and be inspired by colleagues and experts from across the country to advance your sustainability goals.
Visit the Greenhealth Academy to access the CleanMed 2018 sessions.
You can also check out and share CleanMed photos, including Environmental Excellence Award winners. Please attribute images to Practice Greenhealth.
Type: Press
What is your unique climate story? Rachelle Reyes Wenger, Dignity Health's director of public policy and community advocacy, delivers a CleanMed Talk challenging us to reflect on who we are and the tremendous power we each possess to change the trajectory of climate change using our story.“As a trusted voice...health care is [necessary] to the larger climate narrative — in that we have a story to tell and the way we come to tell our story matters a whole lot,” she says.
Her story, your story.
Type: Press
Practice Greenhealth members were featured in “A profitable prescription: More US hospitals are going green to keep them out of the red” on the front page of USA Today.
The Aug. 10 article highlights how a growing number of health care systems are adding environmental improvements, which are reducing costs.
“We’re saving $1 [million] to $3 million a year in hard cash,” said Jeff Thompson, the former CEO of Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wis., the first hospital system in the U.S. to produce more energy than it consumed back in 2014. “There are multiple examples – at Gundersen and… Read More
Type: Press
The University of California (UC) announced a bold expansion of its systemwide sustainability goals as part of its Carbon Neutrality Initiative and leadership on climate change efforts.
UC will aim for 100 percent reliance on clean electricity supplies across its campuses and UC Health’s medical centers by 2025. This dovetails with the university’s prior pledge to become operationally carbon neutral by 2025. UC has already saved $220 million with its energy efficiency programs and continues to leverage the benefits of its solar farm in Fresno, the largest solar purchase of any university in… Read More
Type: Press
In 2018, Practice Greenhealth member Rochester Regional Health was selected as the inaugural winner of the Climate and Health Innovation Award, which recognizes a hospital or health system for innovative work addressing the health impacts of climate change.
Rochester Regional Health was chosen not only for their ambitious goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean electricity systemwide in under a decade, but also for their leadership in communicating that commitment to their patients and community.
“To keep the members of our community as healthy as possible, we must also do our part to… Read More
Type: Press
Join Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.
Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,700 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Canada. Partnership opportunities include hospitals, health systems, community health organizations, NGOs, nonprofits, government, academic institutions, and the health care value chain.