Some of the largest healthcare organizations in the Midwest gathered at the Atheneum Hotel in Detroit on September 12th to listen, learn and share Best Management Practices (BMP) for making their organizations healthier, wealthier and more sustainable.
Notice, the emphasis was on making their entire organizations more sustainable, not just the bricks and mortar, waste stream or food supply. Hospital executives, administrators, physicians, dietitians, therapists and support staff are realizing they are on the “front lines” of creating a healthier environment in which their patients, visitors and other healthcare recipients can emulate in their own lives, thereby helping to shorten hospital stays, recovery periods and even avoid sickness and disease.
Lessons Learned
As is usually the case once an organization makes a commitment to jump on the sustainability path, it can be an erratic and bumpy ride. One green initiative that may work in one healthcare setting may be a difficult fit with another medical organization. Similarly, one hospital may start with a waste stream reduction initiative while another concentrates on lessening its “carbon footprint” through an aggressive energy reduction program. The point is to get onto the sustainability path and begin to benchmark practices. Once the decision is made to make health care practices and medical campuses more sustainable, an entire organization and the population it interfaces with can greatly benefit from such practices.
Vendors Who Get It
One of many recent exciting developments for medical organizations is the new technology and state of the art services being provided by a host of both new and established vendors who understand their need to become more sustainable. One such example is EAU3 Distributing Cleaning Systems, which has an effective, chemical free and environmentally friendly, cost saving and healthy method for cleaning hospitals with ozone water that has been charged with a third molecule of oxygen. Another company, Key Green Solutions, provides software and consulting to the healthcare industry to assist in benchmarking, creating dashboards, scorecards, charts and graphs to help measure what medical facilities wish to manage. Practice Greenhealth is a company that assists its medical facility members with sustainable health care practices, programs, best management practices and many other sustainable plans.
Highlights of the Health Care Conference
The Michigan Green Health Care Conference started off with a keynote speech by Blair Sadler, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Mr. Blair covered much ground in describing both his organizations’ journey and other healthcare organizations experiences in making sustainability an integral part of their operations. The Morning Plenary included an informative discussion amongst several healthcare executives describing their personal experiences in leading their medical organizations onto the path of sustainability, describing early successes and challenges. The morning session concluded with Breakout Sessions covering Energy Conservation, Purchasing Michigan Foods Locally and the Clinicians’ Role in Greening Healthcare Institutions. The afternoon sessions provided many more opportunities for attendees to learn about relevant subjects such as: Pharmaceutical Waste, Environmental Health Resources, Engaging the Front Lines in Sustainability Efforts, Clinicians Leading the Charge for Public Policy Changes in Health Care, among others.
Summary
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) should be lauded for advancing such an informative, thought provoking and relevant health care conference in which attendees could learn, network and experience the “green wave” of activity being integrated into health care institutions’ daily practices. Looking back, it’s quite remarkable how much ground has been covered in a relatively short period of time by so many healthcare institutions that have begun to adapt sustainability into their boardrooms, medical campuses and even into their communities. While much work needs to be done, more and more healthcare institutions have seen that becoming sustainable doesn’t just make sense, it makes Dollars and Cents.
ROBERT E. MATTLER, Associate Broker, Attorney and LEED AP BD+C, is Director of GREEN Brokerage at Armada Real Estate Services in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Bob speaks, writes and advocates about emerging sustainable real estate issues in Michigan and elsewhere. Bob is a Senior Correspondent for www.greeningdetroit.com . For more information, contact Bob at Armada Real Estate (248) 855-1221; or by e-mail: bmattler@armadarealestate.com
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Author: Robert E. Mattler, Green Agent Man, Representing GreeningDetroit.com