· LED Lighting and Waste Life Cycles, LifeBridge Health

April 19th, 12:00 – 5:00 pm

2401 West Belvedere Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215

April 19th, 12:00 – 5:00 pm

As a winner of MD H2E’s 2010 Trailblazer Awards, LifeBridge Health is hosting an afternoon session April 19th on their sustainable successes. Come to learn, network with your peers, and more!

On the menu:

  • LED Lighting
  • Composting
  • Greening the OR:
  • OR Waste Streams and Recycling
  • Fluid Management Systems

LifeBridge Health is a leader in environmental sustainability in Maryland and accordingly has dealt creatively with incorporating sustainability into everyday operations. First, in an effort to reduce energy costs, LifeBridge acquired grant funding from Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) to replace fluorescent lights with LED lamps. Since implementing the program, the staff at LifeBridge health has acted as mentors, providing assistance to several Maryland hospitals in an effort to duplicate its energy successes. Second, LifeBridge is now the only health system in the region composting at all of its facilities. In addition to composting food waste, LifeBridge Health is closing the loop on recycling by using the “final compost product” for landscaping needs at system facilities. Finally, LifeBridge Health has a system-wide regulated medical waste separation and reduction program that has reduced red bag waste by well over half since 2002, including a fluid waste management system at Sinai Hospital for operating rooms.

Please RSVP to trailblazer@son.umaryland.edu by April 12th

Priority is given to employees from any hospital or health system.

This is the third in an ongoing Trailblazer education series.

· Environmental Management Systems (EMS), Franklin Square — May 24

· Integrated Pest Management, Springfield Hospital Center— June 21

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This past year, LifeBridge Health acquired grant funding from Baltimore Gas & Electric to replace fluorescent lights in all non-clinical areas with LED lamps, switching 9,200 lamps and donating approximately 4,000 of the outgoing fluorescents and 2,000 ballasts to a Baltimore-based non-profit organization for reuse. The LED bulbs add a minimum of 3.42 years of life and reduce heat generation at the bulb 10 degrees compared to the fluorescents previously in place, further reducing energy costs for temperature control. This was Phase 1 of the program. Phase 2, in which more areas will switch from fluorescent bulbs, is slated to begin in 2011. LifeBridge was the first health system in the region to enact such a program.

LifeBridge Health assisted its offsite properties in making similar strides, subsidizing recycling and reviewing contracts, such as a forthcoming, cost-saving contract for LifeBridge Health and Fitness. The health system has also consulted with neighboring hospitals on ways to duplicate its energy successes.

LifeBridge Health is working to close the loop on waste life cycles. The only health system in the region composting at all its facilities, LifeBridge Health composted more than 100 tons of organic waste from food prep and patient trays in 2009. In May, two LifeBridge facilities – Courtland Gardens Rehabilitation Center and Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital – began receiving the compost to use in therapeutic patient activities, and this fall, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore plans to use 10 yards of compost to fertilize its flower beds!

LifeBridge Health has been greening the OR since 2002, when it began a system-wide regulated medical waste (RMW) separation and reduction program. By creating distinct waste streams for generators, educating them with signage and in-services trainings, and continually tracking and monitoring the process, LifeBridge Health was able to reduce red bag waste by well over half. As the RMW program matured, LifeBridge Health sought further opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle, focusing on the operating room as the largest generator of infectious waste. In early 2007, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore began using the Neptune Stryker fluid management system in all five ORs of the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, where irrigation needs are high. The completely closed system protects practitioners from surgical fluids and minimizes the environmental and fiscal impacts of red bag waste by eliminating the need for bulky canisters. The OR began recycling pre-case blue wrap and mixed plastics three years ago. Today, all three OR waste streams (recycling, clear and red bag) can be separated not only before but also during and after a case. LifeBridge Health continues to expand and improve its separation of infectious and recyclable materials from the municipal waste stream and prioritizes reducing its impact on environmental health among staff, patients and the greater community.