Maryland Hospitals Commit To Healthy Environment

EPA - Press Release, Aug 23, 2006

BALTIMORE - In a ceremony held at Harbor Hospital, Life Resources Center in Baltimore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded four Maryland hospitals for helping to protect the environment. National Naval Medical Center, Calvert Memorial Hospital, Washington Adventist Hospital and Malcolm Grow Medical Center were among 193 organizations nationwide to be named by EPA for their environmental leadership in the healthcare industry.

“These organizations deserve credit for exploring ways to reduce pollution at their and other facilities in the healthcare industry,” said John ‘Randy’ Pomponio, director of the Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division for EPA’s mid-Atlantic Region. “They’re spreading the understanding that having hospitals with healthy environments goes hand-in-hand with protecting people’s health.”

The four winners are participants in EPA’s Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), a voluntary program focusing on pollution prevention and waste reduction at healthcare facilities. By becoming an H2E partner, a hospital commits to setting priorities and goals to reduce its environmental impact on patients, workers, and the surrounding community. Partners work on a wide array of environmental issues, including eliminating mercury, reducing regulated medical waste, recycling, and green cleaning.

National Medical Center received an award for its recycling program. Calvert, Washington and Malcolm all received H2E’s Making Medicine Mercury Free award, for replacing devices containing mercury, such as thermometers and blood pressure cuffs with mercury-free devices at their facilities.

Thirty-two Maryland hospitals were recognized by EPA for their participation as partners in the H2E program.