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On a recent winter morning, Michael J. Fiore CIH, CSP, director of Environmental Occupational Health and Safety/Sustainability at NorthShore University HealthSystem, sat down with Hermine Levey Weston for a conversation about the value of the Environmental Excellence Awards in advancing their sustainability goals.
[Hermine] NorthShore University HealthSystem’s past successes include an Emerald and a Top 25 Hospital award. Why do you make the Environmental Excellence Award application a priority for your program?
[Mike] This is a great question and extremely appropriate as I think about how… Read More
Type: Press
By Lauren Koch, Health Care Without Harm climate and health program associate director
I am on the edge of the millennial generation. And, it turns out, my career path mirrors the research on my generation.
After earning a business degree, I ventured into the corporate jungle and quickly realized it wasn’t for me. Driven by my passion, I focused my job search on organizations with ethics that matched mine.
Research shows millennials are inspired by the opportunity to make a difference. Feeling like you’re working for a place that leaves the world in better shape is addictive.
And for many… Read More
Type: Press
By Lauren Koch, Health Care Without Harm climate and health program associate director
Let’s get one thing out of the way: I have been eying the GreenBiz conference for years. I was almost as excited to go to this event as I was for my very first CleanMed five years ago – almost.
I was positively giddy getting off the plane in Phoenix. (Temps were in the 80s, which didn’t hurt when you’re flying in from blustery Ohio.) With courses like “Building a New Carbon Economy” or “How Climate Resilient is Your Company,” I couldn’t sleep the first night, even with a generous dose of NyQuil to battle… Read More
Type: Press
(Less water toolkit) The Health care water conservation and pollution prevention presentation and script was developed to help you educate your community. Download the presentation with notes to use as you see fit.
Type: Resources
Sample poster from Dartmouth-Hitchcock made with a customizable template to raise awareness around less waste.
Type: Resources
Transitioning grassroots or departmental greening initiatives towards a formalized sustainability plan requires an engaged leadership team. And it's no coincidence that the furthest-reaching health care facilities have firm leadership engagement. Engaged leaders help move sustainability initiatives beyond specific areas of success and reach across all departments and initiatives with a direct link to the strategic direction of the organization.
When health care leaders can articulate why this work is important on a personal level and then operationalize that commitment throughout the… Read More
Type: Resources
Infection prevention and control in health care is of primary importance. Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) direct costs are between $35.75 billion annually and result in almost 100,000 deaths in the US. HAIs also hold implications for reimbursement, as CMS now requires that the occurrence of three HAI related Healthcare acquired Conditions (HACs) may result in lower reimbursement rates in Medicare patients without other complication. This rule continues as part of its annual Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule which took effect on October 1, 2008. Although there may not… Read More
Type: Resources
Framework for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
It is important to know the correct classification of all of the organization's waste, as different sets of rules will apply to the facility depending on the total amounts of each type of hazardous waste generated per year. Large quantity generators (LQGs) operate under more stringent rules and more comprehensive reporting requirements than small quantity generators (SQGs). The following information will assist healthcare organizations in determining what to count toward their hazardous waste totals.
Type: Resources
Conventional cleaning products can contain chemicals associated with respiratory irritation, skin and eye injury, ozone depletion, cancer, and indoor air problems. Based on state occupational injury reporting, janitorial staff have some of the highest on-the-job injury rates. A 2007 study in The Lancet identifies nurses as having the highest rates of work-related asthma of any occupation in the study, and two additional studies in 2007 (Am J Resp Crit Care Med and Occup Environ Med) pointed to the use of cleaning chemicals as a probable trigger for work-related asthma in healthcare. Choosing… Read More
Type: Resources
Sponsors and Steering Committee Participants: Developing the Greenhealth cost of ownership calculator
(Greenhealth cost of ownership toolkit) We are grateful for the participation and support provided over three years from over a dozen sponsors and steering committee participants who were tasked with developing a solution to a key barrier - cost - in transforming markets toward environmentally preferable products. The results of many months of work is the completion of Version 1.0 of the Greenhealth cost of ownership calculator to address the cost barrier and who shared the vision of… 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 1,500 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.