The Connecticut Healthcare Environmental Roundtable (CHER)

June 29, 2012, Sustainable Heath Care HVAC Ventilation and Radiant/Induction Cooling: Challenges and Opportunities of Introducing Sustainable Practices into Health Care Design. Sponsored by CT Green Building Council (CTGBC) Healthcare Committee and MidState Medical Center.

This workshop, held at MidState Medical Center in Meridan contrasts standard design of HVAC systems for patient care areas with the growing need for high performance in health care construction, and featured the following speaker:

• Bob Rutkowski, PE, Van Zelm Engineers. Health Care Ventilation and Radiant/Induction Cooling: Challenges and Opportunities of Introducing Sustainable Practices into Health Care Design.

May 16, 2012, Landscaping for Health and the Environment: Creating Sustainable, Attractive Landscaped Areas and Garden Spaces to Control Stormwater Runoff. Sponsored by: CHER, CT Hospital Association (CHA), CT Green Building Council (CTGBC) Healthcare Committee.

This workshop was held at CHA headquarters in Wallingford and featured the following speakers:

• Nisha Patel, Supervising Sanitary Engineer, DEEP Stormwater Permitting & Enforcement. When It Rains, It's Poor (pdf).
• Tanya Cutolo, AIA, LEED AP BD+C , Chair, CTGBC Healthcare Committee. CT Green Building Council’s Sustainable Healthcare Initiative.
• Tom Benjamin, Sustainable Designer/Landscape Architect, www.wellnesscapes.com. Sustainable Landscape Design: Connecting Wellness and Environmental Health (pdf).
• John Huber, Sustainable Landscape Designer/Environmental Engineer, Water Wise Landscape and Design, LLC, Greenwich Hospital Landscape Consultant. Stormwater Mitigation-Case Study at Greenwich Hospital (pdf).
• Bernadette Giblin , Safeground Organic Landcare, NOFA Accredited Organic Land Care Professional (AOLCP). Steps to Sustainable Grounds Policy (pdf).

• DEEP, Sustainable Practices and Resources for the Landscaping and Lawn Care Industry
• Approaches to Storm Water Management (Center for Watershed Protection)
• Sustainable Sites Initiative is an "interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices."
• University of New Hampshire, Durham Center for Stormwater Management is a research, testing and educational facility which serves as a technical resource for water managers, planners, and design engineers in New England and throughout the United States.
• CT NEMO (Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials) is a University of Connecticut Program with resources on low impact development.

This meeting was held at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport. Susan L. Davis, President and CEO of St. Vincent's, welcomed the group and shared some examples of the hospital's environmental achievements.  

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• John Leigh, Manager, Waste and Recycling, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), Lebanon, NH. One Path Towards Sustainability: Our Story at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (pdf). John detailed DHMC's program, including highlights of their accomplishments, the role purchasing plays in the greening process, the systems they have in place to keep it all going and advice about how to start. He also talked about the importance of measurement and the tools they use, such as the Excel spreadsheets for their 2009 Waste Data and their Eco-Health Footprint Calculator.
• Janet Brown , Practice Greenhealth . A Step By Step Approach To Develop a Sustainability Plan (pdf). Janet walked the group through a ten step planning process and provided many resources that hospitals can use in developing a sustainability plan. 
• Maureen Hart , Sustainability Measures . Maureen lead a group discussion about the challenges hospitals face in greening their operations and what other hospitals have done to achieve their goals.

• Green Guide For Health Care  (GGHC) 
• Operations Eco-Checklist (pdf) Note: This is available for free from GGHC as an excel spreadsheet, but you must register.
• Practice Greenhealth, The Business Case for Greening Health Care (pdf)
• Information on Climate Change and Health Care:
  • Health Care Without Harm, Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People (pdf)
  • Health Care Without Harm, Climate and Energy (pdf)
  • Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth, Addressing Climate Change in the Health Care Setting (pdf)

This workshop was held at Bridgeport Hospital. The purpose of this event was to discuss the importance of tracking waste disposal and recycling data for measuring success, setting goals and managing costs. 

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Janet Bowen, EPA. Introduction To WasteWise and the Re-TRAC tool, Energy Star and Benchmarking . Janet described the benefits of EPA's free WasteWise program and introduced the RE-TRAC tool, Energy Star and energy benchmarking. (Re-TRAC is a free waste tracking tool for WasteWise members.) There are many web resources listed in the presentation.

• Four hospitals presented ways that their hospitals are using data to support and enhance their waste management programs and green team projects.
  • Jim Baio, Hartford Hospital. Jim talked about how Hartford Hospital tracks waste and uses the data to support their program.  
  • Patty Clark, Bridgeport Hospital. How Much Stuff? (pdf)
  • Jessica Hudson, The Hospital of Central Connecticut. Data Collection Challenges and Benefits (pdf)
  • Mike Tortora, CT Children's Medical Center. Waste Record Keeping: Show Me The Numbers! (pdf)

• Peggy Harlow, Program Manager, Healthcare Solutions, Waste Management. Performing Hospital Waste Audits. Peggy provided guidelines about how hospitals can perform waste audits and work with waste haulers.   

This Forum was held to help hospitals get started with environmental initiatives, such as forming a green team, environmentally preferable cleaning products, green building, pharmaceutical disposal, serving local food, and energy efficiency.  

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Janet Brown , Director of Sustainable Operations, Practice Greenhealth, Keynote
• Kim Trella, DEEP, Office of Pollution Prevention, Overview of Environmental Issues. DEP also prepared a fact sheet of resources available to hospitals.
• Scotia Ryer, Wiggin and Dana, "Green Building - What Hospitals Need To Know" 
• Peter Lucey, Associate Executive Director, "Going Green At The North Bronx Healthcare Network"
• Dan Fadgen, Stericycle, "RX Waste Management - Green Initiatives"
• Panel Discussion about greening initiatives at New Milford Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, CT Children's Medical Center, Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, John Dempsey Hospital. 

June 13, 2008, Hospitals Step Up To The Plate: Serving Healthy, Local Food

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Michelle Gottlieb, Health Care Without Harm: Healthy, Local Sustainable Food in Healthcare (pdf). Learn about the health impacts of industrialized agriculture and pesticide exposure; how healthcare facilities can model healthy eating; the benefits of serving local foods; the Healthy Foods in Health Care Pledge; and the report, Menu of Change - Healthy Food in Health Care, on healthy food in hospitals that have signed the Pledge.

• Marydale DeBor, Vice President, External Affairs, New Milford Hospital; Dr. Diane D'Isidori, Medical Advisor, New Milford Hospital; John Turenne, Sustainable Food Systems: Disease Prevention Through Community-Wide Food Systems Change  (pdf). Learn about New Milford's innovative Plow To Plate program. The presentation outlines how the hospital and community joined together to promote better health, local foods and farms and the hospital's step by step approach to changing food purchasing decisions.

• Janet Bowen, EPA. Information on EPA's resources for healthcare, including Janet's monthly e-mail updates.
• Practice Greenhealth (formerly Hospitals For a Healthy Environment). Information on resources, webinars and their awards program. Contact Janet Brown.
• Robert Lockhart, editor and co-publisher of Edible Nutmeg, a quarterly magazine that promotes "the harvest of the Nutmeg state." 
• Jennifer McTiernan, Executive Director of City Seed . City Seed's mission is to "engage the community in growing an equitable, local food system that promotes economic development, community development and sustainable agriculture."
• Linda Piotrowicz, CT Dept. of Agriculture. Information on the Farms To Chef  program.
• Rick Roberts, Institution Resource Network (IRN). IRN works with institutions, including healthcare, on recycling and waste minimization. They recycle or reuse materials such as computers, surplus furniture, cardboard, construction waste and much more.
• Mike Tortora, Health & Safety Manager at Connecticut Children's Medical Center. Information on starting a "green team" at a hospital.

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Environmental Health: Our Children, Ourselves, Our Community, Michelle Cole, MSN, RN, Maria Sanzo, MSN, RN, CPN, Kathy Visinski, MSN, RN, CT Children's, Medical Center.  Learn about the health effects of some toxic chemicals in common items we use at home and work every day, including household cleaning products, cosmetics and food, and how they affect the health of adults and children.  Information is also included on making better choices for health and the environment. 

• Resources And Tools For Nurses To Go Green At Work, Janet Brown, Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) (now PracticeGreenhealth.) This presentation provides an overview of H2E resources for nurses, including the Green Guide For Health Care and the importance of nurses as environmental activists.

• Setting Up A Green Team: Lessons Learned From CCMC, Mike Tortora, Environmental Health and Safety, CT Children's Medical Center (CCMC).  Learn about CCMC's approach to environmental compliance and beyond using a team approach to creating a "greener" and safer workplace.

• CT DEEP - Overview Of Environmental Issues, Connie Mendolia, Nan Peckham, CT DEEP. This presentation describes some DEP pollution prevention programs and actions individuals can take to create a healthier environment at home and work.

April 10, 2007, Connecticut Hospitals Leading By Example

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Managing Pharmaceutical Waste (pdf), Jim Baio, Hartford Hospital. Learn about proven ways Hartford Hospital has developed to deal with pharmaceutical waste and stay in compliance.

• Recycling Surplus Equipment at Connecticut Children's Medical Center (pdf), Mike Tortora and Bill Bradley, Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC). Learn how CCMC recycled more than 19 tons of surplus equipment with the Institution Resource Network (IRN) and what they did with it.

• Dr. Will Rosenblatt, Remedy . Remedy, a non-profit program started at Yale-Haven Hospital, can help your hospital decrease waste and do good at the same time by donating unopened surgical supplies.

October 12, 2006 , Renew Your Energy

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Recent Energy Efficiency Projects at St. Francis Hospital (pdf), Joe Greenier, Facilities, St. Francis Hospital. Overview of their fuel cell project and other energy projects.

• Evaluating Your Hospital's Energy Performance and Ways to Finance Projects  (pdf), Rick Galipeau, CL & P . Information on CEEP (CT Energy Efficiency Program) opportunities for commercial and industrial customers of CL&P and NU, CHA Conservation Loan program and more.

• Introduction to Combined Heat and Power (pdf), Billy Leahy, The Institute For Sustainable Energy at Eastern CT State University 

• Department of Public Utility Control Distributed Generations Incentives for CHP  (pdf), Cindy Jacobs, CT Dept. of Public Utility Control. Information on funding available for energy programs.

• Renewable Energy Options and Funding Incentives (pdf) Patrick O'Neill, CT Clean Energy Fund. Funding opportunities for renewable energy projects.

May 24, 2006, Protecting Connecticut's Children From Environmental Risks:  Problems and Solutions

This workshop was co-sponsored by CHER, EPA, and The University of Massachusetts Lowell. The purpose of the workshop was to provide nurses and other health care professional who serve children to learn to identify, manage and prevent environmental health risks. Several state agencies and non-profits also provided additional resources for the participants. More information about the workshop can be found at the Children's Environmental Health Project.

Other Related Websites:

This meeting featured the following speakers:

• Introduction to the Institution Recycling Network (IRN) and Their Services (pdf), Mark Lennon, IRN. Describes the services IRN offers to its members as well as general information about what can be recovered on a construction or demolition site. Also explains cost associated with recovery, barriers to recovering materials and solutions, recycling surplus products and more.

• IRN Case Studies - Construction Waste Management (pdf), Matt McKinney, IRN. Examples from recent IRN projects, materials recovered, associated costs, project challenges.

• CT Regulatory and Health and Safety Requirements for Construction and Demolition  (pdf). Information on managing asbestos, lead, dust, air emissions, C & D waste and more. Ross Bunnell, DEEP

• Green Building Basics (pdf). Describes LEED certification and the benefits of high performance buildings, Kim Trella, DEEP

This meeting featured Charlotte Smith, PharmEcology, Inc., Managing Pharmaceutical Waste (pdf).

Other Related Websites:

Practice Greenhealth, Resources on Pharmaceutical Management

March 30, 2005, Creating A Clean, "Green" and Healthy Hospital with Environmentally Preferable and Bio-based Products.

This meeting featured the following speakers and vendors:

• What are environmentally preferable and bio-based products, what are the benefits and why use them (pdf). Carol Westinghouse, INFORM .  

• Products & Performance: What bio-based products can be used in a healthcare facility and where. How do they stack up against currently used products? (pdf). Carol LeBlanc, TURI, UMass, Lowell.  

• Going Green at the North Bronx Healthcare Network (pdf).  Describes the switch from nine traditional cleaners to three bio-based products. The switch was spear-headed by a head physician's concern about incoming patients and potential asthma and respiratory symptoms related to toxic cleaning products. Peter Lucey, Environmental Services Manager, North Bronx Healthcare Network: Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital, Bronx, NY.

• Switching to Green Cleaners and Microfiber Mops (pdf).  Linda Berk, Director of Environmental Services, William Backus Hospital, Norwich, CT.

Vendors: The following vendors participated in the workshop.  Their products are not endorsed by DEP or CHER. It is not a complete listing of vendors who supply environmentally preferable and bio-based products.

• Don Eby, President, The Clean Environment Company, 8609 "I" Street, Omaha, NE 68127, Bio-based cleaning and personal care products, "Greening the Cleaning" products.  

• John King, Sales Manager, Foley Distributing, PO Box 99, 280 Seward Road, Rutland, VT, 05702, 800-950-3738, 802-773,3738, extension 208.  Environmentally preferable chemical and food service products.

• Paulette O'Hara, Stericycle.

Other Related Websites:

Green Seal
Practice Greenhealth (Formerly H2E)
Green Guide for Health Care

November 9, 2004, Understanding RCRA and State Environmental Regulations: A Workshop for Hospital, co-sponsored with The Connecticut Hospital Association

This meeting featured the following presentations:

• Russell Mankes, Ph.D., Albany Medical Center. 
  Lessons Learned from an U.S. EPA Inspection: A Hospital’s Perspective (pdf). A review of Albany Medical Center’s experiences with U.S. EPA and New York Department of Environmental Conservation inspections and how opportunities for improvement were incorporated into their waste management programs.
• Lisa Papetti, Environmental Engineer, EPA Region 1.
  What to Expect from U.S. EPA RCRA Inspections (pdf). What to expect during an EPA inspection, a review of the RCRA regulations with an emphasis on the most common hospital violations, determining when a waste is a waste, and examples of inspections in EPA Region 2.
• Mark Latham, DEEP. Connecticut’s Biomedical Waste Requirements and Common Industry Practices (pdf). An overview of Connecticut’s basic biomedical requirements and common industry practices. 
• Connie Mendolia, DEEP. Pollution Prevention Resources for Hospitals (pdf). Information on the many resources available to assist Connecticut hospitals in preventing pollution and information on the Connecticut Hospital Environmental Roundtable (CHER).

• Janet Brown, Practice Greenhealth (formerly Hospitals for a Healthy Environment). Hospitals For a Healthy Environment (H2E) (pdf). Information on resources available to hospitals through H2E.

April 5, 2004, How Hospitals Can Cut Costs and Reap Additional Benefits through Responsible Waste Management

The meeting was the official kick-off event for CHER and was held at Hartford Hospital. The event featured the following presentations:

• Cost Cutting Measures Undertaken by Hartford Hospital (pdf)
• Getting to Know Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) (pdf)
• Results of Recent EPA Hospital Assessments (pdf)
• DEEP’s Pollution Prevention Office & the Future of the CT Hospital Environmental Roundtable  (pdf)

Content last updated July 2012