HCN News & Notes

Cooley Dickinson Earns Greenhealth Partner for Change Award

NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Health Care was awarded the Greenhealth Partner for Change award by Practice Greenhealth for the fifth consecutive year. Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading healthcare community dedicated to transforming healthcare worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint and becomes a community anchor for sustainability and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice.

The Partner for Change award is one of the organization’s Environmental Excellence Awards given each year to honor outstanding environmental achievements in the healthcare sector. The award recognizes healthcare facilities that continuously improve and expand upon their mercury-elimination, waste-reduction, recycling, and source-reduction programs. At minimum, facilities applying for this award must be recycling 15{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of their total waste, have reduced regulated medical waste, are well along the way to mercury elimination, and have developed other successful pollution-prevention programs in many different areas.

Among Cooley Dickinson’s recent environmentally friendly practices, it has recycled 65 tons, or 85{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}, of the construction waste during the construction of the Comprehensive Breast Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital; replaced kitchen dishwashers, saving 50{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of water and energy use; arranged contracts for 3,500 kwh of solar power under a 20-year agreement, which is 30{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of CDH’s annual usage; and replaced and upgrade lighting to LED technology in 15,000 square feet of the CDH property.

“As a Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Award winner, Cooley Dickinson is committed to improving the health of our patients, staff, and community as a whole,” said Anthony Scibelli, vice president, Operations and chief administrative officer. “Cooley Dickinson’s employees take pride in our sustainability efforts to lessen our impact on the environment and look forward to working with Practice Greenhealth to continue this work across the country.”

The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards will be presented in May at the CleanMed Conference & Exhibition, a national environmental conference for leaders in healthcare sustainability.