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(Employee engagement toolkit) This document provides guidelines for how health systems can establish and offer retirement options for employees that are free of holdings with fossil fuel companies. In addition to doing good for the world by establishing green retirement options, research tells us that employees seek out employers who are green and reflect their values about the environment and climate change. Benefits such as green retirement can help with recruitment of new employees, while increasing employee satisfaction and reducing turnover of current employees.
Type: Resources
Simply defined, a hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment. Hazardous waste is generated from many sources, ranging from industrial manufacturing process wastes to batteries and may come in many forms, including liquids, solids gases, and sludges.
EPA developed a regulatory definition and process that identifies specific substances known to be hazardous and provides objective criteria for including other materials in the regulated hazardous waste universe.
Type: Resources
Environmental degradation of the St. Croix River prompted community leaders of its border communities to come together to address the issue and resolve to improve river health by improving operations in their respective organizations. Hudson Hospital & Clinic successfully implemented a paper use reduction initiative and enhanced recycling program, which became a building block to ongoing organizational performance improvement. Since 2010, Hudson Hospital and Clinic achieved a median recycling rate of 37.60 percent of total hospital waste.
Type: Resources
(Employee engagement toolkit) Hackensack University Medical Center's Sustainability Certification program includes a one-hour lecture and thirty minutes for discussion. The educational content is in alignment with the Practice Greenhealth's six-category framework: Engaged leadership, leaner energy, healthier food, less Waste, safer chemicals, and smarter purchasing. The lecture connects these areas to the environmental footprint of HackensackUMC and details what is being done to meet the challenges. The goal of the certification program is to engage staff and expand conversations beyond ‘just… Read More
Type: Resources
Seattle Children’s Hospital has implemented a policy that demonstrates commitment to the principles of Environmentally Preferred Procurement (EPP) in support of the hospital's mission to improve the health of patients and families, staff, and the community. Seattle Children’s will evaluate the environmental impacts (e.g., waste, toxicity) of products and services in an effort to select healthy and safe products and services that are also environmentally sound. Seattle Children’s staff involved with product selection will communicate to the marketplace that Children’s expects suppliers to… Read More
Type: Resources
In 2016, the University Hospitals Office of Sustainability will continue to build upon its strong foundation of existing priorities while also seeking out new collaborative system opportunities that align cost savings, human wellness, public health and environmental stewardship. Emphasis in 2016 will be placed on programs that support energy efficiency, sustainable food provision, healthier transportation, and sourcing of products free of chemicals of concern, among other important initiatives.
View this resource to read the full sustainability strategic plan from University Hospitals.
Type: Resources
Procuring renewable energy is a highly impactful step your institution can take to reduce its carbon footprint and negative health impacts. The cost of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, has fallen dramatically in recent years, and accessing them is easier than ever making a shift to renewables much simpler and more cost effective than in the past. This resource includes the issues and opportunities around renewable energy procurement, how to get started, as well as how Practice Greenhealth can help you.
Type: Resources
Learn about Earth Day activities from 2019 through an archived webinar.
Join Practice Greenhealth’s Hermine Levey Weston, Kim Ray from Dignity Health and Samantha McKeough from HealthPartners for some lively presentations and sharing of Earth Day events. Learn what your organization can do to engage your staff and community in environmental stewardship for this year’s celebration of our planet Earth.
Learning objectives:
Identify fresh ideas to celebrate Earth Day in healthcare settings
Explore Practice Greenhealth Resources for Earth Day
Type: Resources
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a problematic plastic because it requires additives such as plasticizers like diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), among others, and generates chemicals of concern throughout its life cycle – from manufacture, through use and disposal – resulting in potentially hazardous exposures to those chemicals in the workplace, in communities, and in some patients.
We have worked with hospital and health system members to identify high-priority product categories as defined by life cycle impacts, the potential for the release of toxic chemicals into the environment, exposures to… Read More
Type: Resources
The standardized environmental questions for medical products are a set of supplier questions that can be used in the procurement process for OR surgical drapes to identify environmentally preferable products.
People can be exposed through the use of products containing these chemicals in the OR. In 2002, the FDA issued a Public Health Notification for PVC devices containing DEHP. DEHP is also listed as a carcinogen on the Prop 65 list. The National Research Council has also noted the importance of looking at cumulative exposure from multiple phthalates. These five phthalates are listed as… Read More
Type: Resources
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.