| Source Newsletter 2007 issue 1 |
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Three Minnesota Health Care Facilities Win Honors
Three Minnesota health care facilities were recognized at the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) Environmental Excellence Summit on May 14.
Ridgeview Medical Center, Waconia, received the H2E Environmental Leadership Award, the nation’s most prestigious recognition of innovation in environmentally responsible health care. Recipients are distinguished by their pioneering efforts to reduce the health care industry’s environmental impact. Their innovative programs are setting industry standards for waste reduction and pollution prevention. Ridgeview Medical Center will be inducted into the H2E Environmental Leadership Circle—an elite group of facilities that have integrated sustainable environmental programs into their core values.
Hutchinson Area Health Care, Hutchinson, and University of Minnesota Medical Center—Fairview, Minneapolis, received the Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award. The national award commends the facilities for outstanding efforts to eliminate mercury from the health care system. One of H2E’s top goals is the elimination of mercury from the health care system wherever possible. Mercury—a neurotoxin and developmental toxin—can impair human health at extremely low levels of exposure, and health care facilities can be major contributors to mercury air emissions. The Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award is a one-time award given to facilities that have met the challenge of becoming virtually mercury-free. These facilities join eight other Minnesota facilities who have previously won the award.
“Because of increased hazardous waste regulatory oversight, many hospitals are just beginning to wake up to the environmental and public health impacts of their systems,” said Catherine Zimmer, MnTAP health care specialist. “These award winners should be considered superstars for being among the leaders in making improvements.”
Jointly founded by the American Hospital Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, Health Care Without Harm and the American Nurses Association, H2E is an independent not-for-profit organization focused on improving health care’s environmental performance. To learn more, visit the H2E Web site.
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