Training & Associations

At some point you may need more information, need to ask questions, or find out what others think about a situation. Take advantage of your opportunities to get connected. Talking to peers and suppliers to your industry through membership in a trade association can help you solve problems.

Trainings
Training helps you understand environmental, health and safety rules. Several Hospitals for a Healthy Environment workshops are being offered in 2003. MnTAP is partnering with Hospitals for a Healthy Environment and the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance to bring you information on how to reduce mercury and overall waste in hospitals.

Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) Teleconferences H2E conducts a free, monthly teleconference for H2E Partners and Champions. Topics for these presentations cover the many environmental challenges faced by today's health care facilities.

Healthcare Without Harm Provides information to assist health care with pollution elimination. Topics covered include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), mercury, incineration, pesticides and pollution prevention.

Lab Safety: Online Safety Course As part of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Laboratory Safety Program, this nonprofit medical research organization an online safety course. Its Office of Laboratory Safety also covers managing hazardous, emergency response guidelines and provides laboratory chemical safety summaries that are designed especially for laboratory workers, unlike most Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs).

If you don't see a training listed near you and you think enough health care providers in your community would be interested in a workshop, MnTAP can arrange to sponsor one in your area. Contact Catherine Zimmer at 612.624.4635.

Associations
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) H2E is a partnership of the American Hospital Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the American Nurses Association and Health Care Without Harm designed to provide health care professionals with tools to eliminate mercury and other toxic chemicals from waste streams by 2005 and reduce overall hospital waste 50 percent by 2010. H2E was formed through an agreement signed in 1998 by the AHA and the EPA to advance pollution prevention efforts in hospitals.

Institute for Vaccine Safety The Bloomberg School of Public Health provides an independent assessment of vaccines and vaccine safety to help guide decision-makers and educate physicians, the public and the media about key issues surrounding the safety of vaccines.