With a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments, UPMC can move closer to its goal of becoming the industry leader in environmental health and safety. While there’s a whole movement to green hospitals, says Ellen Dorsey, environment program officer for the Heinz Endowments, “nobody is approaching it like UMPC, with an integrated model that links all functions of the hospital together.”
From training doctors about environmental links to disease, to community education for moms on how to protect their children, it goes beyond building green and buying green.
The UPMC strategy says, “Where possible we’re going to do our best to prevent diseases, reduce environmental exposure known to be linked to disease and help our community to know about this and do what it can," explains Dorsey.
Among other things, UPMC will appoint a director of environmental initiatives to develop systemwide environmental policies to promote healthy work and patient care environments in all its facilities.
Three years ago, the Endowments gave $25,000 to put together an “internal green team” at Magee-Women's Hospital. The informal group, comprised of both cleaning crew and neonatal staff among others, went from getting rid of tubing that leached toxic chemicals, to banning all mercury products in the hospital to educating moms about unsafe products. “I can’t tell you how cool this was,” says Dorsey. “We gave them a very small amount of money and this thing just took off.” --TC
Source: Ellen Dorsey, the Heinz Endowments
Photograph copyright © Jonathan Greene