August 2016 Your Community atWork ANOTHER CLEAN BILL OF … · August 2016 Community Your atWork A...
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E N V IR O N M E N T IS A P RIO RITY INSIDE AND O UTSID E TH E H OS P IT A L August 2016 Community Your at Work A REPORT ON WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A HEALTHY COMMUNITY CLEAN ANOTHER BILL OF HEALTH Saving 1 Million+ Gallons of Water Disinfecting Without Chemicals A $50,000 sterile processing system installed last summer at Community Regional Medical Center is saving 1 million gallons of water a year. It’s one of several water-saving measures Community’s hospitals have adopted during California’s historic drought. The new high-tech sterilizers use less than a gallon of super-heated water to sterilize more surgical instruments than the old processors, which used 178 gallons per load. Community is also conserving by: • Pressure washing the downtown hospital campus with free recycled water from the city of Fresno, saving 7,000 to 12,000 gallons a month. • Partnering with the city of Clovis to be the first and largest private landowner to use recycled water for drought resistant landscaping on the 125-acre Clovis Community Medical Center campus. • Switching to low-flow toilets and motion sensor faucets in new construction and remodeled areas. As Community Regional Medical Center’s environmental safety officer, it’s Camille Boone’s job to make the workplace safer for employees and ultimately for patients. And for Boone, safer also means greener. “I’m on a mission to get rid of as many toxic chemicals as possible,” she said. “So I started with one of the worst, Glutaraldehyde, or Cidex-OPA.” Boone helped guide the switch this month to a new eco-friendly technology called Trophon that’s even more effective in disinfecting ultrasound probes and no longer requires employees to don personal protective equipment, employ air filtration devices during processing and use chemical neutralizers to dispose of the waste leſt over aſter sterilizing. Trophon disinfects probes using hydrogen peroxide instead. Last year, Community Medical Centers saved nearly 1.4 million lbs. of waste from landfills by recycling everything from cardboard packaging and paper to used surgical towels, surgical instruments and old electronic equipment. It’s part of a commitment to reduce the healthcare network’s carbon footprint. As a member of the national Healthier Hospitals organization, Community is working to raise awareness of the connection between a cleaner, greener environment and better public health. Community was one of the first local hospitals to partner with Stericycle to divert plastic biohazard containers from landfills through a program to sterilize and reuse them up to 600 times to collect used needles and scalpels. It has saved more than 150,500 lbs. of plastic from landfills since 2009. Community also kept 3,300 lbs. of disposable surgical towels out of landfills last year by selling them to a company that sterilizes and reuses them in industrial settings. Recycling 1.4 Million lbs. of Waste Sterile Processing Technician Sarah Muniz removes surgical instruments from one of Community Regional Medical Center’s new sterile processing machines. Community Regional uses recycled water provided free by the city of Fresno to pressure wash its campus. Community Regional’s Environmental Safety Officer, Camille Boone, demonstrates how employees must suit up before using toxic Glutaraldehyde, or Cidex-OPA, to disinfect ultrasound probes. She’s working to remove it completely with clean sterilizing technology. Environmental Services supervisor James Norton tosses boxes into a compactor at Community Regional, readying the cardboard for recycling. This load is part of the more than 353,000 lbs. of cardboard Community recycled over the past year. Kevin Barcelos, RN, manager of informatics and education at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital, plugs in his electric car at work. of toxic Gluteraldehyde will be removed by switching completely to clean Trophon disinfecting technology WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A HOSPITAL NETWORK AND ITS COMMUNITY ARE CONNECTED? FIND OUT AT cmc.news/august2016 One Network. One Community. Clovis Community Medical Center | Community Behavioral Health Center | Community Regional Medical Center | Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital In one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation with high rates of asthma and lung disease, Community Medical Centers is encouraging employees and doctors to drive zero emissions vehicles. Community installed more than 15 car charging stations and has plans for 45 more, plus 71 preferred parking spots for clean air vehicles in a new employee parking garage being built next year at Community Regional Medical Center. STEWARDING OUR RESOURCES – cmc.news/stewardship A BREATH OF FRESH AIR Reusing plastic containers reduced Community’s carbon footprint by 539,000 lbs. – an amount equal to 26,950 gallons of gasoline “I’m on a mission to get rid of as many toxic chemicals as possible.” hospital network in California to join the Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging Challenge to provide free car charging stations for employees 1,000 gallons
Transcript of August 2016 Your Community atWork ANOTHER CLEAN BILL OF … · August 2016 Community Your atWork A...
ENVIRONMENT IS A PRIORITY INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL
August 2016
CommunityYour
atWorkA REPORT ON WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE A HEALTHY COMMUNITY
CLEAN ANOTHER
BILL OF HEALTH
Saving 1 Million+ Gallons of Water
Disinfecting Without
ChemicalsA $50,000 sterile processing system installed last summer at Community Regional Medical Center is saving 1 million gallons of water a year. It’s one of several water-saving measures Community’s hospitals have adopted during California’s historic drought.
The new high-tech sterilizers use less than a gallon of super-heated water to sterilize more surgical instruments than the old processors, which used 178 gallons per load. Community is also conserving by:
• Pressure washing the downtown hospital campus with free recycled water from the city of Fresno, saving 7,000 to 12,000 gallons a month.
• Partnering with the city of Clovis to be the first and largest private landowner to use recycled water for drought resistant l an d s c api ng on t h e 1 2 5 - a c re C l ov i s Community Medical Center campus.
• Switching to low-flow toilets and motion sensor faucets in new construction and remodeled areas.
As Community Regional Medical Center’s environmental safety officer, it’s Camille Boone’s job to make the workplace safer for employees and ultimately for patients. And for Boone, safer also means greener. “I’m on a mission to get rid of as many toxic chemicals as possible,” she said. “So I started with one of the worst, Glutaraldehyde, or Cidex-OPA.”
Boone helped guide the switch this month to a new eco-friendly technology called Trophon that’s even more effective in disinfecting ultrasound probes and no longer requires employees to don personal protective equipment, employ air � ltration devices during processing and use chemical neutralizers to dispose of the waste le� over a� er sterilizing. Trophon disinfects probes using hydrogen peroxide instead.
Last year, Community Medical Centers saved nearly 1.4 million lbs. of waste from land� lls by recycling everything from cardboard packaging and paper to used surgical towels, surgical instruments and old electronic equipment. It’s part of a commitment to reduce the healthcare network’s carbon footprint. As a member of the national Healthier Hospitals organization, Community is working to raise awareness of the connection between a cleaner, greener environment and better public health.
Community was one of the � rst local hospitals to partner with Stericycle to divert plastic biohazard containers from land� lls through a program to sterilize and reuse them up to 600 times to collect used needles and scalpels. It has saved more than 150,500 lbs. of plastic from land� lls since 2009. Community also kept 3,300 lbs. of disposable surgical towels out of land� lls last year by selling them to a company that sterilizes and reuses them in industrial settings.
Recycling 1.4 Million lbs. of Waste
Sterile Processing Technician Sarah Muniz removes surgical instruments from one of Community Regional Medical Center’s new sterile processing machines.
Community Regional uses recycled water provided free by the city of Fresno to pressure wash its campus.
Community Regional’s Environmental Safety Offi cer, Camille Boone, demonstrates how employees must suit up before using toxic Glutaraldehyde, or Cidex-OPA, to disinfect ultrasound probes. She’s working to remove it completely with clean sterilizing technology.
Environmental Services supervisor James Norton tosses boxes into a compactor at Community Regional, readying the cardboard for recycling. This load is part of the more than 353,000 lbs. of cardboard Community recycled over the past year.
Kevin Barcelos, RN, manager of informatics and education at Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital, plugs in his electric car at work.
of toxic Gluteraldehyde will be removed by switching completely to clean Trophon disinfecting technology
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A HOSPITAL NETWORK AND ITS COMMUNITY ARE CONNECTED? FIND OUT AT cmc.news/august2016
One Network. One Community.Clovis Community Medical Center | Community Behavioral Health Center | Community Regional Medical Center | Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital
In one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation with high rates of asthma and lung disease, Community Medical Centers is encouraging employees and doctors to drive zero emissions
vehicles. Community installed more than 15 car charging stations and has plans for 45 more,
plus 71 preferred parking spots for clean air vehicles in a new employee parking garage being built next year at Community Regional Medical Center.
STEWARDING OUR RESOURCES – cmc.news/stewardship
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Reusing plastic containersreduced Community’s carbon footprint by 539,000 lbs. – an amount equal to
26,950 gallons of gasoline
“I’m on a mission to get rid of as many toxic
chemicals as possible.”
hospital network in California to join the
Department of Energy’s Workplace Charging
Challenge to provide free car charging stations for employees
1,000 gallons
