In a ceremony this week at the annual meeting of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, EPA Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh presented Trailblazer Awards to Abington Memorial Hospital, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Holy Redeemer Health System, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for their environmental leadership.

“As its name implies, this new award recognizes hospitals, that are truly blazing the trail so that other hospitals may build on their success and implement similar programs a bit more easily,” Welsh said.

“These Philadelphia-area hospitals deserve credit for taking positive steps to reduce waste, improve indoor air quality, and invest in reusable rather than disposable products,” Welsh added.

The four winners are participants in EPA’s Partnership for Sustainable Healthcare, a voluntary program focusing on pollution prevention and waste reduction at health care facilities. By becoming a PSH partner, a hospital commits to setting priorities and goals to reduce its environmental impact on patients, workers and the surrounding community.

At Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, a plastic material in intravenous tubing, blood bags and other products used in neonatal intensive care units is being eliminated. The plastic, DEHP or di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, can leach a hormone-like chemical that has been linked to reproductive problems.

Abington Memorial Hospital has brought together manufacturers, suppliers, group purchasing organizations and hospital executives to take advantage of their combined buying power in developing environmentally-preferable purchasing.

Holy Redeemer Health System is implementing innovative waste reduction practices, including food composting and its reuse in landscaping.

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is in the process of implementing sustainable food practices throughout its patient and staff food operations.

The EPA also recognized 20 hospitals in the Philadelphia-area that are actively working to reduce pollution through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Hospitals Initiative, which also includes the Health Care Improvement Foundation and the Women’s Health and Environmental Network as partners. This partnership was funded by a $78,500 EPA grant in 2006.

Medical care in the U.S. is one-seventh of the nation’s economy. Working with hospitals, to find solutions for reducing pollution can make a difference in environmental health and their financial bottom line.

The 20 hospitals participating in the Green Hospitals Initiative include: Abington Memorial Hospital, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Central Montgomery Medical Center, Chestnut Hill Hospital, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Doylestown Hospital, Eastern Regional Medical Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Holy Redeemer Health System, Lankenau Hospital, Lower Bucks Hospital, Mercy Suburban Hospital, Methodist Hospital, Nazareth Hospital, Paoli Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, Presbyterian Medical Center, St. Mary Medical Center and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

10/19/2007