Sustainability in University Hospitals
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I work at the University of Kentucky, which has been in the process of a major change in its hospital. Our staff would like to know what institutions of higher education have been models for sustainability in the area of hospital services. Since the University of Kentucky's hospital is on campus and shares resources with the campus at large, we are most interested in other campuses of this type, but if the majority of institutions who utilize sustainable practices in hospital services have a different setup, that is something we would like to know as well.
Thanks for all your help!
Robert Kahne
Robert,
Hospitals have resources and networks you may want to check out.
In 1998, the American Hospital Association and the US Environmental Protection Agency signed a landmark agreement to advance pollution prevention efforts in our nation’s healthcare facilities. The agreement became the cornerstone of the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) initiative. H2E is now part of practice greenhealth & their goals incorporate a broader sustainability focus - including buildings and materials - and are listed on: http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/ Another resource with global focus is Health Care without Harm: http://www.noharm.org/
In Minnesota, MNTap ( Minnesota Technical Assistance program) has staff working with hospitals in the region on various waste issues. They have resources on their website and share some successful projects: http://www.mntap.umn.edu/health/hospitals.htm
Our University Medical Center Fairview has been an H2E partner. Here is one of the examples of a project in the hospital. http://www.mntap.umn.edu/health/142.html
The University EHS team support the medical center in a consultant type role.
I hope this is useful.
Amy Short
Sustainabiltiy Coordinator
University of Minnesota
Check out the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center at Dartmouth College [home of Dartmouth Medical School]. They've been innovators in 'green' building, waste reduction, and other areas. [You'll find some good general information in articles in Dartmouth Medicine; I think the first such article was in 2007.]
Peter Crownfield
Alliance for Sustainable Communities–Lehigh Valley
Sustainability & Health Initiative
Bethlehem, PA 18015
www.sustainlv.org
peter@sustainlv.org
I teach a course called Environmental Healthcare Sustainability at Georgetown University, School of Nursing and Health Studies, and serve as the Healthcare Specialist at Perkins+Will, an international architecture firm that specializes in healthcare facility planning according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles. I would be glad to support your efforts.
Carrie Rich
Adjunct Faculty, Georgetown University
Healthcare Specialist, Perkins+Will
Thanks everybody! This information has been really useful!
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Robert;
This might not be a total match, but we just completed a Tele-Medecine project at UC Irvine. Pretty green project. LEED Gold. Not sure about the actual services. YOu can probably find it on line pretty easily.