Tools and resources

Gundersen Health System: Tech-based measuring for food waste prevention

• Food
• Food Case Study
• Case Study
• Gundersen
• Waste
• Food
• food waste
• Toolkit

 A Practice Greenhealth Case Study “If you can do something to reduce the waste, you’re doing the right thing for the environment, you’re saving money, and you’re doing something that’s socially responsible. It’s a win-win-win all the way around.”  – Tom Thompson. Gundersen Health Systems' baseline revealed they were throwing out an average of half a ton of food every week — approximately 24…

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Johns Hopkins Hospital: Balanced menus

[Plant-Forward Future] Given that meat is often the most expensive product category for hospital food service departments, Johns Hopkins Hospital adopted a “less meat, better meat” strategy, first reducing by 15% the amount of meat they purchased overall in 2014 and then investing in purchasing healthier, more sustainably-produced meat products.

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Environmental considerations for reusable sharps containers

• Sustainable procurement
• Reuse, donate, or sell
• Medical Device Reprocessing
• Greening the Operating Room
• Guide

Suggested environmental considerations and RFP questions for reusable sharps containers to facilitate the purchasing process.

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Earth Day: Recycle Poster

• Earth Day
• Poster

Poster to celebrate why health care should recycle for Earth Day and every day. The poster reads "Recycle The Prescription for a Healthy Environment. Take a moment to recycle your materials." The poster can be used to point the way to recycling facilities. 

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Creating healthy retail food environments in health care facilities

• Food
• Food Service

Hospital workers experience an 8.6 percent higher burden of illnesses such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and obesity than the general U.S. workforce. Although patient meals are carefully calibrated for their nutritional profile and tailored for specific diets, food and beverages sold in hospital retail settings are often out of line with dietary recommendations. There are…

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Environmental considerations for reusable textiles (gowns, scrubs, etc)

• Sustainable procurement
• Textile Reuse
• Reuse, donate, or sell
• Guide

These are suggested environmental considerations for the RFI/RFP for reusable textiles that are in addition to some of the Standardized Environmental Questions for Medical Products, V1.0. This contract category for reusable textiles covers everything from towels and blankets, staff and patient apparel, to room decor (such as curtains, drapes).

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Safer hand hygiene get started guide

• Get Started Guide
• Guide
• Hand Hygiene
• Toolkit

(Safer hand hygiene toolkit) Infection prevention and control in health care are of primary importance. Antimicrobials remain one of the most important lines of defense in the prevention of infection. However, some commonly used antimicrobials in hand hygiene products found in the health care setting, such as hand soaps, can pose hazards for employees and the environment and may increase…

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Seattle Children's Irrigation Reduction Workplan

• Exemplary Document
• Seattle Children's Hospital
• Water
• Toolkit
• Less Water

Seattle Children's Hospital provides an example of an irrigation assessment work plan, including findings and an action plan.

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Seattle Children's Star Commuter

• Exemplary Document
• Seattle Children's Hospital
• Employee Benefit

Before joining Seattle Children’s nine months ago as the Retail Operations manager, Star Commuter Bill Taylor hadn’t ridden the bus since high school. But after picking up his new ID badge and attending Day One, he noticed something different about Children’s compared to his previous workplaces. Here, he noticed a unique kind of commuting culture — one where most people don’t drive alone to work…

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Stanford Hospital: Sterile processing department water reduction

• Toolkit
• Stanford Hospital
• Water
• Examplary Document

(Less water toolkit) Stanford Hospital and clinics had been in the process of evaluating the renovation of the sterile processing department when they realized they could take a leadership role in water efficiency and select a solution that would give a significant amount of water back to the community. An upgrade to this equipment resulted in cost savings and a reduction in water consumption.

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