Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance celebrated Maryland Buy Local Challenge Week at Anne Arundel Medical Center on Wednesday by sampling local sustainable Roseda Farm Beef burgers being served at the Southport Eatery. Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment invited the Secretary to highlight the commitment to local food purchasing undertaken by more than 36 hospitals around the state participating in the Buy Local Challenge. “We applaud Maryland hospitals for their strong participation in the Buy Local Challenge. Including local, seasonal foods in our meals is easier than ever and buying local food helps our farmers, our environment, economy, and the health of our families,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance.

Secretary Hance also tasted gazpacho made with local tomatoes and other produce. He stopped for this picture at the sampling table with (right to left) local author Rita Calvert, who was promoting her book on grilling The Grassfed Gourmet Fires It Up; event organizer Louise Mitchell, sustainable foods program manager for Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment; Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Earl “Buddy” Hance; farmer Pam Stegall Roberts of Calvert Farm; and Mary Ellen Tuma, food and nutrition services director at Anne Arundel Medical Center.

Maryland hospital farmers’ market coordinators pose with Governor O’Malley at his Buy Local Cookout July 21st, along with Priya Saha and Louise Mitchell of Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (left). Seventeen Maryland hospitals are hosting farmers’ markets this summer.  Hospitals are represented here by Denise Choiniere of University of Maryland Medical Center (left of Governor), Roneet Mallin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (right of Governor), Meg Miller of Harbor Hospital, Holly Emmons of Union Hospital of Cecil County, Charlotte Wallace of Anne Arundel Medical Center and Megan Long of Harbor Hospital.

Governor Martin O’Malley (center), along with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (right), recognized Holly Emmons, food and nutrition services manager at Union Hospital of Cecil County (2nd right) with the Governor’s first Smart, Green and Growing Buy Local Agricultural Challenge Award at the Buy Local Cookout on Thursday, July 21, 2011 hosted by Governor Martin O’Malley to kick off the Buy Local Challenge.  Emmons is now purchasing 44 percent of her produce, dairy, meat and poultry directly from local sustainable farmers. This includes certified organic fruit and vegetables and local pastured meat, chicken and turkey which is served to patients, employees and to visitors who eat at the hospital. Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley and Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Earl “Buddy” Hance are also pictured here (left).

Congratulations, Holly Emmons!

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 Trailblazer Awards!

The Trailblazer Awards, administered by Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, are awarded to hospitals that are leading the way with a specific sustainable practice or philosophy that other hospitals can replicate.  Please do not submit a list of environmental best practices; rather, the awards will recognize a specific practice or philosophy implemented at a hospital that is truly blazing the trail.

Each award winner will be presented with a Trailblazer Award at MD H2E’s November 10^th conference, Environmental Excellence in Health Care: Measuring Success. In addition, the award winners will be featured in an MD H2E press release.

For more information and to download the Trailblazer Award Guidelines and Application, go to:

http://mdh2e.org/awards-recognition/2011-trailblazer-awards/

Welcome to the MD H2E July 2011 News Roundup! With this newsletter, we aim to bring you the latest local and national news regarding sustainability in health care, along with profiles, resources, tips and more. Click here to read:

MDH2E July 2011 News Roundup

In this issue, please read about:

·         Springfield Hospital Center’s Award-Winning Integrated Pest Management Practices

·         Nursing Grand Rounds at Anne Arundel Medical Center

· MD H2E’s Environmental Excellence in Health Care Conference – Registration Open!

·        Kill Bacteria in the ICU with Copper Surfaces

·         More Hospitals Focus on Green Design Projects

·         Evidence-Based Design Promotes Healing

·         Sustainable Foods: Time for the Buy Local Challenge

·         Upcoming Nurses’ Get Together

·         Green Leaders: Jo Wilson, Western Maryland Health System

We hope you enjoy. We look forward to hearing the latest green news about your facility, so please, drop us a line with an update!

Buy Local Challenge

July 23 – 31

It’s time again for the Buy Local Challenge, the statewide and now a national campaign in which consumers, institutions and businesses pledge to eat or serve at least 1 local food each day during the week of July 23 – 31.  Hosted by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission, this annual campaign is supported by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and kicked off by Governor Martin O’Malley with a Buy Local Cook-out.

To Participate:

1.  Hospital food service can pledge to serve at least 1 local food* each day during the week of July 23 – 31

2.  Employees, patients and other community members can pledge to eat at least 1 local food* each day during the week of July 23 – 31

*Definition of Local Food: food grown or produced (processed and packaged) within a 200 mile radius of your location (see Pg 11-14 of GGHC Food Service Credits).

TO REGISTER  +  FOR TOOLS & RESOURCES:

http://mdh2e.org/sustainable-foods/buy-local-challenge-2011/

NEW THIS YEAR:

1.   Special recognition to the top 3 hospital Green Teams with the best participation

2.   Enter your department’s picture in the Buy Local Workplace Contest – you could win a free lunch!

3.   Find out other ways your hospital can receive significant recognition for top participation

4.   Plus, updated marketing tools & resources - flyers, table tents, patient tray bookmarks, point of sale cards

NOTE TO HOSPITAL FOOD SERVICE:
It’s now a state law:  For any raw whole foods (not including chopped, cooked or otherwise processed raw foods) that you sell and promote as “local,” you also need to list their state of origin at the point of sale. Here’s a Flyer you can display at your point of sale (and edit as needed) to show which states your local food is from:  State of Origin Flyer. This applies to produce stands, farmers markets or farm stands where you promote foods as “local.” More info: www.mda.state.md.us/pdf/buylocalfaq.pdf

An article about “greening” the operating room looked to UMMC for advice in the June issue of OR Manager. The article, written by Cynthia Saver of Columbia, Maryland, examined environmentally sustainable practices that can be fairly simple to implement at a health care facility – and can save money, too. It’s all about the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Reduce

There are three areas where waste can be reduced in the OR: regulated medical waste (RMW), unused supplies and energy. Up to 90% of what gets thrown out as RMW doesn’t need to be thrown into the red bag: unless contaminated by body fluids, masks, suction tubes and IV bags aren’t biohazardous.  Using energy efficient lighting, heating, and sterilizing can have a big impact, as well.

Reuse

According to Saver, “Reusing surgical gowns, drapes, table covers, and other items significantly reduces waste. UMMC contracts with a reprocessing firm that picks up, cleans, and returns the materials.” Sharps containers can also be reused – UMMC saved $70,000 a year this way.

Recycle

Blue wrap and medical plastics are both recyclable, and UMMC donated unused medical supplies to the medical school.

There’s so much more in this article to spark ideas about how to save money in and reduce the environmental impact of the operating room – click the link to keep reading!

http://practicegreenhealth.org/sites/default/files/upload-files/ormvol27no6orsgoinggreen.pdf

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment and
University of Maryland School of Nursing present:

Environmental Excellence in Health Care:
Measuring Success

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Registration now open!

http://nursing.umaryland.edu/events/environmental/2011/

7:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Join regional and national health care professionals, environmental industry experts, and educators for this learning and networking event designed to showcase the measurement practices of hospitals as they journey toward more sustainable environments for hospital staff, patients, and communities. The keynote speaker, plenary session, and smaller breakout sessions will explore how facilities are measuring sustainability success using quantitative and qualitative measures. Areas of measurement may include building design and construction, carbon footprint reductions, chemical usage reductions, community benefits, cost savings, employee engagement and/or satisfaction, patient exposure reductions, sustainable food practices, waste reduction, and water conservation.

Keynote Address

Submit an abstract or apply as an exhibitor!

Call for abstracts – deadline July 29^th.

Call for exhibitors – deadline September 9^th.

Location

University of Maryland School of Nursing

655 W. Lombard Street

Baltimore, MD 21201

Still the same low price!

Fee: $55 per person

$30 Continuing Nursing Education: 5.25 Contact Hours available*

*The University of Maryland School of Nursing Office of Professional Education is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

To apply or register for the conference, go to:

http://nursing.umaryland.edu/events/environmental/2011/