MEDCOM Announces Practice Greenhealth 2016 Award Winners

By Elizabeth Keysar, PhD, Kathy Lahaye and retired Col. Karrie FristoeMay 31, 2016

Practie Greenhealth
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The U.S. Army Medical Command's (MEDCOM) sustainability program is pleased to announce the Practice Greenhealth (PGH) 2016 Environmental Excellence Award winners. Several Army military treatment facilities (MTFs) were recognized for their sustainability achievements and practices.

Winners include:

Evans Army Community Hospital

Emerald Award: PGH Emerald Award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate their sustainability programs are further along the path to sustainability. Award determinations are made from top applicants for the Greenhealth Partner for Change Award.

Evans Army Community Hospital and Moncrief Army Community Hospital

Greening the Operating Room: This award recognizes one top facility applicant for their outstanding efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the surgical environment.

Madigan Army Medical Center

Circle of Excellence --Waste: The award recognizes hospitals for outstanding performance in the following specific topic areas: Leadership, Waste, Chemicals, Greening the Operating Room, Food, Energy, Water, Climate, Green Building, and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing.

Bassett Army Community Hospital

Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital

Blanchfield Army Community Hospital

Evans Army Community Hospital

Madigan Army Medical Center

Moncrief Army Community Hospital

Partner for Change Award: The PGH award recognizes health care facilities that have implemented a significant number of environmental programs and continuously improve and expand upon these programs on the path to sustainability.

Brooke Army Medical Center

Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center

Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center

Fox Army Health Center

Martin Army Community Hospital

Munson Army Health Center

Reynolds Army Community Hospital

William Beaumont Army Medical Center

Tripler Army Medical Center

Partner Recognition: PGH Partner Recognition Award recognizes health care facilities that have begun to work on environmental improvements.

PGH is the nation's leading membership and networking organization for institutions in the healthcare community that have made a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly practices. In order to be recognized by PGH, MTFs must be actively working to reduce energy and water use, reduce generation and disposal of waste, implement sustainable procurement practices, and/or develop local and sustainable nutrition programs. The process includes a detailed application, the results of which MEDCOM Headquarters is also using for annual tracking of progress.

MEDCOM has an active membership in this organization, and many MTFs have competed and achieved the Environmental Excellence Awards in past years. The number of award recipients this year represents a near doubling in the number of sites achieving recognition status over last year, a significant step forward for MEDCOM's sustainability program.

MEDCOM's sustainability program seeks to ensure continued access to the energy, water and other environmental resources necessary to accomplish the MEDCOM mission and vision today and in the future. Sustainability efforts improve the patient environment by reducing the use of hazardous materials and chemicals of concern in the design, construction and operation of MTFs.

It is MEDCOM policy to deliver sustainable healthcare with all activities striving to: 1) effectively and efficiently minimize all waste streams; 2) optimize lifecycle management of facilities and infrastructure; 3) sustain and enhance the well-being of patients and workforce; and 4) incorporate environmentally preferable purchasing and sustainability into procurement and contracting actions.

PGH is focused on the healthcare community, making its tools and expertise well-suited to the unique mission of MEDCOM. MEDCOM will also receive detailed analysis of all entries as PGH produces a database of industry sustainability information and provides MEDCOM HQ summary reports by location and region, as well as a Command-level summary. MEDCOM MTFs will benchmark their progress against like institutions, and each year the "industry best practice" will continue to improve, keeping the targets relevant to MEDCOM as it seeks continual improvement.

Download: Practice Greenhealth (PGH) 2016 Environmental Excellence Award winners [PDF]

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