The Spark Blog
Read the latest sustainability ideas and comments from Healthier Hospitals Initiative thought leaders. Then share your comments and ideas too!
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Jun172013
What makes a grid smarter?
By: Seema WadhwaI have often heard the term smart grid but I have to admit I realized I needed to further educate myself on exactly what that meant. What I learned can best be described by saying a smart grid is very much like a living system.
To better understand this, let’s look at this concept on a small scale. Consider your daily use of energy. You are using many of your appliances such as your stove, dishwasher and washing machine either first thing in the morning or early evening. This is typical for most households. This cycle of energy use is called the peak of energy demand and it occurs...
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May212013
Promoting Sustainable Health Care
By: Gary CohenBy Gary Cohen
President and Founder of Health Care Without HarmImagine energy efficient hospitals that save money on energy bills to use for critical patient care, and that promote renewable energy as a community health and resilience strategy. Imagine hospitals that create healthy food environments to help address the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in our country. Imagine hospitals that lead society in reducing toxic chemical exposures, and that are reducing their waste, saving money and improving patient care at the same time. Imagine a health...
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May82013
A Milestone Year
By: Seema WadhwaBy Seema Wadhwa
Director, Healthier Hospitals InitiativeWe want to thank everybody for what has been a whirlwind of a first year at HHI. We share with you our first milestone report that highlights the collective efforts of over 370 HHI hospitals. This report highlights in a quantitative format impacts we have had on our six challenge areas as well as 25 case studies of sustainability in action. There is however more to the story. The greatest impact HHI has been able to make is through the people that make up HHI and especially the passion of the sponsoring...
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May12013
What is the right HHI Challenge for your Facility?
By: Janet BrownBy Janet Brown
HHI Director of Content and OutreachWhile HHI has over 600 enrollees, many of the enrollees continue to identify the right challenge(s) for their facilities. There are questions around data measures, submission details and frequency of reporting. Can a hospital enroll in one challenge and add another challenge down the road? (yes!) Join me on May 17 at 2:00pm eastern for a review of each of the HHI challenges, measure details, data submission requirements and other details. Learn more on the HHI Webinar and Sharing Call page. If your facility has not...
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Apr82013
On April 20, 2012, John Kendle had a heart attack.
By: Janet BrownBy Janet Brown, Director, Content and Outreach for Healthier Hospitals Initiative
On April 20, 2012, John Kendle had a heart attack.
He woke up in the middle of night with pain in his chest, jaw and neck. He woke his wife, dialed 911, was placed in an ambulance and headed to St. Joseph’s. “It’s a horrifyingly scary experience. To have your shirt ripped open, a nitro patch, chew on aspirin in the ambulance, have paramedics leaning over you -- it was way scarier than one would think. I work in a hospital and see people coming in all day long. But I never understood what it...
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Mar292013
The Latest in Education at HHI
By: Janet BrownBy Janet Brown, Director, Content and Outreach for Healthier Hospitals Initiative
This week we heard from Lois Sechrist, Dan Scher and Gerry Kaiser of Ascension Health as they shared their strategies towards achieving their 20% energy reduction goal on an HHI Webinar. Ascension Health has achieved 7.1 percent energy use reduction from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2012. This represents a total cost avoidance of $18.8 million and 290,700 tons of carbon dioxide emission avoidance across 35 million square feet in 75 hospitals in 21 states and Washington D.C.
How does an over 75-... -
Mar222013
Safer Chemicals: Overcoming the Barriers
By: Seema WadhwaBy Seema Wadhwa
Director, Healthier Hospitals InitiativeI recently had the opportunity to moderate a panel to a very engaged audience at the Healthcare Design conference. I was very pleased with the make-up of the audience—facility owners, interior designers, physicians and CEOs. What I was most impressed with was that everybody in that room was there because they cared about chemicals of concern—namely PVC, halogenated flame retardants, and more. I often find myself believing if people cared about the “why”—change is inevitable. So I sat there pondering that question, with...
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Mar62013
The New CleanMed
By: Carrie AbernathyBy Carrie Abernathy
Director of Education, Training & Events
Practice GreenhealthCleanMed is already one of the most sustainable conferences in the U.S., but this year’s meeting in Boston will offer new innovations in sustainability, plus some exciting new updates ensure attendees are involved and engaged. Instead of getting a conference bag filled with printed materials, you’ll receive a device upon check-in that is loaded with your contact information. You can touch the device with vendors’, peers’, and speakers’ devices to "trade" e-business cards and other...
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Jan282013
Governments Agree: Global Mercury Free Health Care by 2020!
By: HHI AdminBy Joshua Karliner
International Team Coordinator
Health Care Without HarmLast week in Geneva, the world’s governments finalized text for a global legally binding treaty on mercury, the bio-accumulative heavy metal that is poisoning the world’s fish supply, threatening public health and the environment. Among other measures, the treaty text mandates an end to the manufacture, import and export of mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers by 2020. This is a major victory for those working to green the health sector around the world.
HHI members have been in...
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Jan172013
Changemaker Inspiring Change
By: Seema WadhwaI recently had the opportunity to listen to Derek Parker receive the Changemaker Award at CHD's Healthcare Design Conference.
His acceptance speech was unlike any other I had ever listened to – partly because it was less a speech and more an interview, but mostly because it was so raw and real.
There were indeed some sound bites that made me have to mentally pause to process because they were so insightful, such as “Design is a journey of discovery.”
Or his story about listening to the difference between playing the notes versus playing the music. Some thoughts that...