St. Johns' Hospitals Named Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change

St. John's Hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo were awarded the 2014 'Greenhealth Partner for Change� Award by Practice Greenhealth, the nation's leading health care community that empowers its members to increase their efficiencies and environmental stewardship while improving patient safety and care through tools, best practices and knowledge.

The Award is one of the organization’s Environmental Excellence Awards given each year to honor outstanding environmental achievements in the health care sector.

The Greenhealth Partner for Change Award recognizes health care facilities that continuously improve and expand upon their mercury elimination, waste reduction, recycling, and source reduction programs. At a minimum, facilities applying for this Award must be recycling 15 percent of their total waste, have reduced regulated medical waste, are well along the way to mercury elimination, and have developed other successful pollution prevention programs in many different areas.

St. John's Hospitals have many programs and practices in place that have led to this achievement including:

• Sending food waste out for composting
• Recycling paper, cardboard, aluminum, Styrofoam coolers, plastics, batteries, blue wrap, metals, and eyeglass frames
• Renting reusable, sterilized surgery supplies such as basins, sharps containers and gowns instead of using disposable products
• Reprocessing surgical equipment for reuse
• Using all non-toxic, green-certified cleaning supplies are non-toxic and green-certified

“We take pride in our sustainability efforts to lessen our impact on the environment,” said Laurie Harting, President and CEO for St. John’s Hospitals. "As a Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Award winner, St. John’s Hospitals is committed to improving the health of our patients, staff, and community as a whole.”

The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards were presented June 5 in Cleveland, Ohio, at the CleanMed Conference & Exhibition, THE premier national environmental conference for leaders in health care sustainability.

About Practice Greenhealth: Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading health care community that empowers its members to increase their efficiencies and environmental stewardship while improving patient safety and care through tools, best practices and knowledge. Learn more about Practice Greenhealth.