April 2001

NHHA and the Foundation for Healthy Communities are pleased to announce an important conference coming to Boston this May.  CleanMed 2001 will show you how health care organizations are changing purchasing practices to improve human health and the environment.  The conference will create a forum to discuss and evaluate the performance of alternative products and will focus on:  

• Mercury elimination          
• Worker health and safety
• PVC plastic use
• Green and healthy buildings
• Reprocessing of single-use medical devices

Improving the Environment through Health-Care-Related Product Choices:  Plenary panels include: Visions of Sustainable Healthcare, Environmental Initiatives in GPOs and Implementing Environmentally Preferable Purchasing.  Speakers include Janine Benyus, the author of Biomimicry:  Innovation Inspired by Nature, and senior managers, purchasing executives and materials directors who have direct experience with these issues at their facilities.

The conference, which will also include a vendor fair featuring suppliers of environmentally preferable products, will be held May 4 - 5 at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston, Mass. Space is limited so be sure to register as soon as possible.  Visit www.cleanmed.org or contact Peter Diamond, Environmental Health Fund, at pdiamond@igc.org or 617-524-6018 for more info.

Both NHHA and the Foundation are part of a collaborative effort involving 30 healthcare organizations and universities endorsing this program. Don’t miss this exciting, cutting-edge educational event nor the opportunity to meet your peers from across the nation — and the world.

FIRST-IN-THE-NATION STRATEGY 
TO REDUCE DIOXIN IN N.H.

On March 14, 2001, Governor Jeanne Shaheen announced New Hampshire’s adoption of a first-in-the-nation strategy developed by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) to substantially reduce harmful dioxin emissions in the state. Dioxin exposure has been linked to a variety of health problems and is a known human carcinogen. “The New Hampshire Dioxin Reduction Strategy” recommends actions that are expected to cut dioxin emissions from a variety of sources in half in the next two years.          

Some of its recommended actions for hospitals still operating medical waste incinerators include the virtual elimination of all PVC-containing products from the medical waste stream by 2005 and a phase out of the operation of all medical waste incinerators in the state by 2010.  Other actions recommended include the promotion of environmentally safer methods of medical waste management, such as recycling, sterilization techniques and reducing the use of chlorine-containing products that emit dioxins when burned.  The Strategy also calls for legislation to be drafted that would prohibit the disposal of PVC-containing products in medical waste incinerators.  NHHA will be working closely with NHDES as the strategy and related legislation are implemented.  To see a full copy of the strategy, visit NHDES’s website at www.des.state.nh.us/ard/dioxin/strategy.pdf .

Since 1991, ENERGY STAR Healthcare Partners have saved more than $200 million on utility bills while preventing millions of tons of pollutants linked to respiratory diseases, acid rain and climate change.  The new ENERGY STAR web site now has health care-specific information available at www.epa.gov/buildings/healthcare.  There you’ll find tools and resources to begin improving your hospital’s energy performance — good for both your bottom line and the environment!

MAINE HOSPITALS GET TOUGH ON MERCURY AND PVC PLASTIC

On March 5th, hospitals throughout the state of Maine made history by entering into a pollution prevention agreement that is the first in the nation to call for a reduction in the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic medical supplies.  The agreement among the Maine Hospital Association, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Natural Resources Council of Maine sets an ambitious agenda for the state’s 39 hospitals.

“The Maine agreement builds on the national hospital pledge to make medicine mercury free,” said Bill Ravanesi, MPH, Boston Campaign Director for Health Care Without Harm, referring to the "Hospitals for a Healthy Environment" (H2E) agreement signed in 1998 by the American Hospital Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). “With the PVC reduction goal, Maine hospitals are really setting a precedent for the rest of the country.”

To find out more about the details of this historic agreement visit www.themha.org.

It's a Small World After All!

Laura Brannen, former environmental programs coordinator for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, recently returned from a trip to Russia where she served as an ambassador for Health Care Without Harm.  There she met with government officials, health care professionals, and environmental and community health activists to discuss a variety of issues including safe sharps management, dealing with the onslaught of disposable medical products including PVC products, treatment of infectious waste and alternatives to incineration. 

“Russians are traditionally very conscious of waste minimization and source segregation and have always found creative ways to reuse materials, but the increased used of disposable products has created a real waste burden.  They want to create environmentally preferable purchasing and recycling infrastructures that will encourage waste minimization without the perceived need for incineration.  Interestingly enough, on issues of mercury, hospitals have been phasing mercury out for years, and dentists have discontinued the use of mercury amalgams,” said Brannen.