25 hospitals honored for their outstanding sustainability standards

Practice Greenhealth yesterday announces the 2019 recipients of the Top 25 Environmental Excellence Awards, which the organization says is the most prestigious environmental achievement for healthcare. The facilities being honored have demonstrated the highest standards for environmental sustainability practices in healthcare.

A range of multi-sized and different types of healthcare organizations have earned a spot on the Top 25 list: large, urban, academic medical centers to rural critical access hospitals and all have successful sustainability programs solidly in place with supporting data. For example, Greenhealth said they have developed formal climate change initiatives, avoid chemicals of concern, reduced the amount of meat they serve, engaged staff to support the programs, and provide leadership in regional areas and across the healthcare sector.

“As more and more hospitals embed sustainability into their operations, the bar for environmental excellence increases every year,” said Gary Cohen, president of Practice Greenhealth in a statement. “These 25 hospitals demonstrate the kind of leadership, innovation, and performance that can drive the entire health sector toward more environmentally responsible practices and a more expansive definition of health.”

Entrants are those with the highest scores on the Greenhealth Partner for Change application, a list that gets bigger every year, according to Greenhealth, as more facilities adopt innovative, sustainable, and replicable practices.

The Top 25 winners for 2019 are (in alphabetical order):

·    Boston Medical Center (Boston, MA)

·    Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, OH)

·    Hackensack Meridian Health - Hackensack University Medical Center (Hackensack, NJ)

·    Harborview Medical Center (Seattle, WA)

·    Hudson Hospital (Hudson, WI)

·    Lakeview Hospital (Stillwater, MN)

·    Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY)

·    NYU Langone Health - Main Campus* (New York, NY)

·    Overlook Medical Center (Summit, NJ)

·    Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital (St. Louis Park, MN)

·    Regions Hospital (St. Paul, MN)

·    Seattle Children's (Seattle, WA)

·    University of Vermont Medical Center (Burlington, VT)

·    U.S. Army, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center (Fort Hood, TX)

·    University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle, WA)

·    VHA 04 Erie VA Medical Center (Erie, PA)

·    VHA 04 James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center (Altoona, PA)

·    VHA 07 Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center (Charleston, SC)

·    VHA 08 VA Caribbean Healthcare System* (San Juan, PR)

·    VHA 12 Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center (Milwaukee, WI)

·    VHA 23 Minneapolis VA Health Care System (Minneapolis, MN)

·    VHA 23 St. Cloud VA Healthcare System (St. Cloud, MN)

·    Virginia Mason Hospital & Seattle Medical Center (Seattle, WA)

·    Virginia Mason Memorial* (Yakima, WA)

·    Westfields Hospital* (New Richmond, WI)

* First time appearing on the Top 25 list.

Practice Greenhealth says it will honor the winners May 9 at the Environmental Excellence Awards Gala during CleanMed 2019 in Nashville. In addition to the Top 25, Practice Greenhealth, in a news release, is recognizing 354 healthcare organizations across 10 different areas of sustainability through its annual Environmental Excellence Awards program. These include the Top 25, the Visionary Leader Award, the Circles of Excellence, the Greening the OR Leadership Award, the Greenhealth Emerald Award, Partner for Change and Partner Recognition Awards, the Making Medicine Mercury-Free and Greening the OR Recognition Awards, and the System for Change Award.