Search Results
Displaying results 201 - 210 of 1372
This position paper describes health care’s role in protecting workers, community health, and the planet through procurement and advocacy.
Type: Resources
Introduction
Increasing seafood purchases, is a solid strategy for reducing meat while promoting human and environmental health. However, the lack of transparency – along with seafood’s numerous health, environmental, and social justice concerns – make it a particularly difficult food group to navigate. This guide offers seafood procurement recommendations based on sustainability, nutrition, social, and animal welfare concerns.
This guide’s recommendations complement existing third-party certifications and inform day-to-day purchasing when sustainability labeling and information is… Read More
Type: Basic page
Reducing water consumption is a great place for hospitals and health systems to start improving their environmental impact and sustainability practices. There are many reasons water is and should be an area of focus:
Hospitals use approximately 7% of all water use in commercial and institutional U.S. facilities, which is costly when the price of water has slowly been rising over the last decade.
By 2030, it’s estimated that global water supply will only be able to meet 60 percent of our population’s needs.
Though hospitals are often exempted from water conservation regulations in times… Read More
Type: Basic page
Medical devices and equipment cost more than their initial purchase price. Maintenance, energy demands, disposal costs, and other long-term costs of ownership can drastically change the lifetime price tag of products and equipment.
The tool provides a framework to assess the financial costs and bring hidden costs to the surface, including:
Maintenance
Use
Disposal
Looking at the maintenance, use, and disposal costs to an organization means looking at costs, such as:
Energy use, water consumption, fuel, and waste disposal
Cleaning
Consumables
Taking all of these factors into account… Read More
Type: Basic page
Reducing energy waste and procuring renewable energy are some of the most effective steps that our member hospitals are taking to reduce their environmental impact and protect community health. There are many reasons energy should be an area of focus:
Inpatient health care is ranked by EPA as the second-largest commercial energy user in the United States.
Health care facilities consume close to 10% of the total energy used in U.S. commercial buildings and spend more than $8 billion on energy every year.
The health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The… Read More
Type: Basic page
Julie Moyle has served Practice Greenhealth as a member engagement manager since 2015. She lives in Golden, Colo., where she is also an OR nurse. Learn about her proudest moment at Practice Greenhealth, her thoughts on emerging issues in sustainability in health care, and what song makes her squirm.
Share three items of significance in your home office.
A piece of petrified wood (a gift) that keeps my computer cord from slipping behind the desk when I unplug, and that helps me keep things in perspective. A small, polished hand-carved turtle that’s fun to handle and reminds me that slow and… Read More
Type: Press
Health care promoting healthy cities by planting trees
Studies show that patients who have a view of trees spend fewer days in the hospital than patients who don’t.
But that’s not the only way trees improve health. One organization is making it their mission to combat several health challenges, like mental health and pollution, through the simple act of planting a tree.
Arbor Day Foundation – a nonprofit organization founded in 1972 – aims to plant not just one tree, but millions. The foundation has a long history of incentivizing community forestry practices. For years, the nonprofit has… Read More
Type: Press
Are local and sustainable foods the same thing? The response, in short, is not always. Applying the terms “local” and “sustainable” synonymously and interchangeably can lead to false conclusions. As health care facilities strive to incorporate environmental best practices in their food service— and measure their success in this endeavor— accuracy and precision of language is of vital importance.
Time to Choose: Knowing the Difference Between “Local” and “Sustainable”
Apples may be grown nearby or chips processed in a regional plant but those apples may be produced with heavy pesticide use… Read More
Type: Press
Practice Greenhealth member NYU Langone implements a comprehensive waste management and recycling program
Waste is a common challenge for health care organizations, no matter their size.
Waste is complex and expensive to manage. Hospitals that look upstream by studying incoming material and then reduce both inputs and outputs together see greater reductions in total waste costs which is exactly what the Material and Waste Stream Assessment assists hospitals in performing.
This engagement will consist of three distinct deliverables:
Material and waste assessment with environmental… Read More
Type: Basic page
Practice Greenhealth's Shanda Demorest coaching Children's Health System of Texas through Strategic Deployment.
How do the most successful and sustainable hospitals make decisions about what to do next?
Leaders can bring Practice Greenhealth’s expertise in identifying and achieving strategic sustainability initiatives to your organization via an in-person or virtual training and engagement focused on setting goals and rallying your team.
Our expert facilitators lead facility and system stakeholders through a process designed to link programmatic areas through the development of overarching… Read More
Type: Basic page
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.