May 28, 2008
For Immediate Release

Sacred Heart Hospital earns national Environmental Leadership Award
Hospital is one of six in the nation to receive award this year

Eau Claire, Wis. – On May 20, Sacred Heart Hospital received the Practice Greenhealth Environmental Leadership Award (ELA) for innovative programs that set industry standards for waste reduction and pollution prevention. The award was presented on May 20 at “CleanMed 2008”, the Global Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Health Care in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Recipients of the Practice Greenhealth ELA are distinguished by their pioneering efforts to reduce the healthcare industry’s environmental impact.

Sacred Heart Hospital was one of just six hospitals in the nation to receive this award for 2008, enabling the hospital to be inducted into Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Leadership Circle ─ an honor that recognizes hospitals in the vanguard of environmental progress in healthcare. The Environmental Leadership Circle is an elite group of facilities that have integrated sustainable environmental programs into their values.

The ELA award is the nation’s most prestigious recognition of innovation in environmentally responsible healthcare.

The award demonstrates that Sacred Heart Hospital is considered to be among the best in the country at creating a healthy environment for patients, employees, physicians and the community as a whole. Past ELA hospital winners include Dominican (California) and Bronson Methodist (Michigan).

As part of this award, and in honor of the hospital’s “green” efforts, 100 trees will be planted in Tiruvannamalai, India, a country devastated by deforestation and climate change.

Sacred Heart Hospital also received the Making Medicine Mercury Free Award in 2002, the first year the award was given.

“Sacred Heart Hospital is at the forefront of the trend toward a healthcare system that recognizes the fundamental link between healthy people and a healthy environment,” said Bob Jarboe, Executive Director, Practice Greenhealth. “Our vision of a truly healthy healthcare system is steadily becoming a reality, in part because of the remarkable achievements of organizations like Sacred Heart Hospital.”

“Through an overall policy of reducing, recycling and reusing, Sacred Heart Hospital’s Green Team initiative seeks to protect the environment, preserve our natural resources and reduce energy consumption in concert with our Franciscan tradition to respect creation, safeguard its people and practice good stewardship,” said Rick Beckler, Director of Hospitality Services and Chair of the hospital’s Green Team. “Our application was an incredibly useful tool to pull information together from throughout our organization to see trends and progress. When we got it all on paper, we were amazed at the incredible success we’ve had in reducing, recycling and reusing over the past several years.”

In addition, Sacred Heart Hospital also participates in the Hospital Sisters Mission Outreach Partners in Recycling Program, a medical surplus recovery and redistribution program that addresses the medical needs of people throughout the world. In the past two years, Sacred Heart Hospital contributed more than 37,000 pounds of medical equipment and related items valued at nearly $215,000. It is estimated that the U.S. healthcare system discards more than $6.5 billion in equipment and supplies each year in landfills – a large portion of which can be used to save lives around the world.

“Sacred Heart Hospital has a deep Franciscan commitment to environmental stewardship that consistently goes beyond basic state and federal regulatory waste management requirements,” said Marge McFarlane, Safety Coordinator and Green Team member. Green Team member David Mortimer added, “It’s a win-win-win: Our application also demonstrated that being ‘green’ saves green dollars and helps others in need.”

“At Sacred Heart Hospital, protecting our environment is a part of our Franciscan commitment to the people of our community and their environment. It’s something critical to our Mission as a Catholic hospital and to our community’s long term health,” added Beckler. “We are proud to be leading the trend toward environmentally responsible healthcare, and are committed to continually making our hospital safer and healthier for everyone.”

Jointly founded by the American Hospital Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, Healthcare Without Harm and the American Nurses Association (and formerly known as Hospitals for a Healthy Environment or H2E), Practice Greenhealth is an independent not-for-profit organization focused on improving healthcare’s environmental performance. Practice Greenhealth envisions a healthcare system committed to reduced waste volume and toxicity, efficient energy and water use, clean air, safe work practices and safe buildings.

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Sacred Heart Hospital is an affiliate of the Hospital Sisters Health System. Since 1889 it has been meeting patient needs in western Wisconsin with the latest medical innovations and technology, together with a Franciscan whole-person healing tradition.