In May, 2009, Sacred Heart Hospital was awarded a 2009 Environmental Leadership Award (ELA) at CleanMed, the sixth international conference on environmentally sustainable healthcare held in Chicago. The award was given by Practice Greenhealth for demonstrating the highest degree of commitment to environmental sustainability. The ELA award is the nation’s most prestigious recognition of innovation in environmentally responsible healthcare. As an ELA recipient, Sacred Heart Hospital has been inducted into Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Leadership Circle ─ an honor that recognizes hospitals in the vanguard of environmental progress in healthcare for creating a healthy environment for patients, employees, physicians and their communities. [In 2008, Sacred Heart was one of just six hospitals in the nation to receive the ELA award.]