by
Diana Bradley, Staff Writer | September 26, 2012
From the September 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“You have to have people who set the goals and monitor progress and communicate and reinforce that progress you are making,” she says. “It’s best to start by showing the savings and impact little differences can make.”
Last month, Palomar Medical Center, dubbed a so-called “Hospital of the Future,” held its grand opening in Escondido, Calif. When Hamilton joined Palomar Health, she told the CEO that it was very impressive they were building this “beautiful new green building,” but that it would only really make a difference if the building were operated in a sustainable way.
The concept of a garden hospital
is carried out from the
parking lot to the planted
roof to interior garden conservatories
at Palomar Medical Center.
(Photo: Tom Bonner)
“We understand that even though our building is super energy-efficient, we need to track and monitor our consumption and its impact,” she says.
While a strategic focus on sustainability has not always been a high priority for U.S. hospitals, Laura Wenger, executive director of Practice Greenhealth, has noticed the creation of more roles targeting this issue.
“We are seeing more and more hospitals that are now hiring sustainability managers and other professionals to lead the charge and address the need for sustainability work which crosses over into multiple departments in hospitals,” she says.
Seek out valuable resources and roadmaps
As the green movement gains greater recognition on a national and global scale, sustainable health care is also receiving more attention. The wider availability of sustainable solutions, including products, services and education, has made it much easier for hospitals to go green.
“When I lived in the northwest in the ‘90s, there was a joke that people in Portland were the tree huggers of the USA,” McCauley says. “Now it has really permeated all areas. There are a lot of roadmaps organizations have put together that make it easier for health care institutions to join in.”
Among the organizations and tools in place to aid hospitals with greening efforts, there is: Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading membership and networking organization for health care institutions that have made a commitment to sustainable, environmentally preferable practices; the Green Guide for Health Care, which adapts the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC’s LEED) standards to the special needs of hospitals; and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, an organization that aims to reduce mercury and improve waste management. Health care facilities can also use the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a self reporting sustainability evaluation tool developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
