For some time, health care practitioners have come to Bambi Ingram, sustainability manager for UAB, with questions and ideas about implementing sustainable practices in their units in UAB Medicine.
Their interest encouraged Ingram to invest in a UAB-wide membership to Practice Greenhealth, an organization dedicated to helping its more than 1,500 member hospitals and health systems increase efficiencies and their environmental stewardship while improving patient safety and care through tools, best practices and knowledge.
“They cover energy, water efficiency, waste, sustainable procurement and more, including guides to alternative products that are less toxic and more efficient,” Ingram said. “These are smart, incremental and sustainable practices, and membership gives UAB employees access to seminars, white papers and data about projects that have been successful at other facilities.”
To receive an access code for the Practice Greenhealth site, contact Bambi Ingram at blingram@uab.edu.
One example featured on the Practice Greenhealth website is a “Greening the OR” initiative at the Cleveland Clinic, which brought a cost savings of $4 million in a single year through practices such as adopting fluid management systems, HVAC setbacks, anesthetic gas reduction, LED surgical lighting and reusable medical products.
Practice Greenhealth site access is open to “anyone on campus doing health care practice,” Ingram said. To receive an access code for the Practice Greenhealth site, contact Ingram at blingram@uab.edu. “We want people who are interested to use the website, ask questions, join a committee based around their area of practice and consider joining a committee on health care sustainability that we are developing here at UAB,” Ingram said.
After a committee is formed, UAB Sustainability will select pilot projects to implement these ideas at UAB. “Most of the sustainability projects in health care end up being cost-savings initiatives,” Ingram said. “These practices save energy and waste, but they also save money as well.” The rise of single-use items is a key contributor to rising health care costs, she noted, “but there are often reusable options, along with significant data to demonstrate that they are safe to reuse.”
Practice Greenhealth network partners recognize sustainability as a means to practice the Hippocratic Oath — to heal and do no harm — through safer products, reduced air emissions, elimination of toxins, safer working environments, less waste, and efficient use of energy and water, Ingram says.
By utilizing Practice Greenhealth, UAB is “strengthening efforts to operate in a way that is better for the planet as well as the patients, staff and visitors,” she said. “I encourage anyone who is interested to reach out and get involved with our work at UAB.”
