Tools and resources

Gundersen Lutheran’s Chemo Waste Separation Poster

• Waste
• Gundersen

A visual guide to Gundersen Lutheran's waste separation process.

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Ten-step guide to green cleaning implementation

• Green Cleaning

Since Florence Nightingale first helped make the connection between cleaning and improved health outcomes, health care workers and the cleaning industry have responded with a wide array of effective and economical products and processes. However, we now know that some of these older and traditional cleaning products and processes can negatively impact both health and the environment. Today, new,…

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Webinar: DEHP, Interiors and Green Cleaning

• Webinar
• Green Cleaning
• Healthy interiors
• Medical products

Practice Greenhealth tracks targeted activities around safer chemicals in three areas – Green Cleaning, PVC/DEHP reduction and Healthy Interiors. This webinar reviews these three areas, explaining how to access the data and where to find Practice Greenhealth resources to support success in tracking movement towards healthier materials.

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Hackensack University Medical Center leading the way on safer chemicals and products case study

• Hackensack University Medical Center
• Safer Chemicals Case Study
• Chemicals
• Hackensack University Medical Center

As chronic disease management statistics continue to grow, health care is focused on reversing that trend. We now know certain types of cancer, learning and developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, reproductive health and fertility problems and asthma are some of the chronic diseases that can be linked in some way to the harmful chemicals we are all exposed to. Hackensack…

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Ten-step guide to a sustainable grounds policy

• Pest Management
• Guide

Every time you see a little yellow sign on a lawn indicating a chemical application has occurred and think to yourself the harmful effects will be gone in a few days, think again.

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Sustainable resilient flooring choices for hospitals

• Furnishings
• Buildings

Hospital stakeholders are increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability and its implications for their building practices. One way that hospitals can green their buildings is by using more sustainable materials in their facilities. There has recently been a great deal of interest in finding sustainable resilient flooring solutions.

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Transportation: Supply Chain Options to Reduce the Impacts from Freight

• EPP
• EPP Resource

Supply Chain Options to Reduce the Impacts from Freight Purchasing Guidance - Specs/RFP Questions to ask Freight Carriers to Reduce Fuel Emissions Hospital/GPO: Consider the resource above when purchasing distribution services and other contracts where products or services are delivered to hospitals. EPA's SmartWay Program provides an opportunity for hospitals, who ship and receive items…

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Office Supplies

• EPP
• EPP Resource

Purchasing Resources When procuring office supplies, opportunuities exist to find cost savings and products that contain one or more environmental attributes. Look for ways to reuse or reduce use of supplies, purchase with recycled content and avoid chemicals of concern - such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and antimicrobials. Criteria Mulitple criteria: Office Supplies, RFP/RFI Questions  (…

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Leaner Energy: Background

• Climate and Health
• Leaner Energy

Background Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumed and 38 percent of all GHG emissions in the United States. According to the EPA, inpatient health care ranks as the second largest commercial energy user after the food service industry. The US Department of Energy notes that hospital energy costs rose…

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Purchasing guide to sourcing dairy products without rBGH

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Purchasing
• Sustainable procurement
• Sustainable food service operations
• Guide

(Health Care Without Harm) Purchasers can take the following steps to source dairy products produced without the use of the dairy drug recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH generally referred to as BGH, also called rBST or Posilac (the brand name of the drug).

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