The Maryland Green Registry Annual Meeting and Awards Event will be held on June 7, 2011, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the EnviroCenter in Jessup, MD.  Bring your business cards and mix with other Registry members as well as members of the Green Building Institute, an organization of environmental service providers including builders, architects, energy auditors, renewable energy contractors and sustainability consultants.  Members that would like to donate a service or product as a door prize at the event should contact Laura Armstrong, Maryland Green Registry Coordinator, at larmstrong@mde.state.md.us.

www.green.maryland.gov/registry

Maryland Green Registry Leaders are chosen for their commitment to continuous improvement and environmental results achieved to date.  To apply, simply submit a statement (approximately 200 words) highlighting one or more of the environmental projects or practices described in your Maryland Green Registry online profile and the results you achieved.  Please also share why you think your efforts were successful by addressing issues such as organization-wide commitment, green team involvement, the establishment of specific goals, measurement of results, or other contributing factors.  Both your award statement and your online profile will be considered.

Statements should be submitted to MarylandGreen@mde.state.md.us and are due April 29, 2011.

As you know, members are encouraged to update their profiles annually, but you’re welcome to provide updates any time you have new environmental practices and results to report.

Mark you calendars: The Maryland Green Registry Annual Meeting and Awards Event will be held on June 7, 2011, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the EnviroCenter in Jessup, MD.  Bring your business cards and mix with other Registry members as well as members of the Green Building Institute, an organization of environmental service providers including builders, architects, energy auditors, renewable energy contractors and sustainability consultants.  Members that would like to donate a service or product as a door prize at the event should contact Laura Armstrong, Maryland Green Registry Coordinator, at larmstrong@mde.state.md.us.

Finally, check out the new Maryland Green Registry membership map Just let them know if they need to make any corrections to your organization’s type or location.

http://www.gcmh.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=333&Itemid=41

Earth Day activities at Garrett County Memorial Hospital coincided with a visit from Carmela Coyle, Executive Director of the Maryland Hospital Association. Pictured is Carmela Coyle and Donald Battista, Hospital President/CEO with a newly planted Dwarf Weeping Cherry Tree. Ms. Coyle and other MHA executives, Jim Reiter, Senior Vice President of Communication and Mike Robbins, Senior Vice President of Finance, spent the day at the Hospital to meet with administrative officials and to tour the hospital facility.

Several events were organized by the Hospital’s Employees Event’s Committee including a collection for the Animal Shelter, a Go Green Contest and a Leaf Identification Contest as well as the tree planting. A collection for the Animal Shelter included dog and cat food, collars, dishes, toys, treats, blankets and towels, shampoo, cat litter, and monetary donations to aid the shelter’s efforts. The Go Green Contest encouraged employees to enter their ideas to make the hospital more “green” for a drawing to win a gift certificate to Pleasant Valley Green House. Winners were Gina Artice, Jessica Lucas, and Bobbie Gordon. Barbara Pitt won the Leaf Contest by correctly identifying the most leaves to win a book about room makeovers with JUNKMARKET style. The Dwarf Weeping Cherry Tree was donated to the Hospital by Holland Nursery of Aurora, WV.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2011

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment

Press Contact: Molly Englund, Communications Coordinator, 410-706-6832

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Hospitals Across Maryland Celebrate Green Initiatives for Earth Day

Enter a hospital in Maryland on April 22^nd, and there’s a good chance a lot more will be going on than patient care. It’s Earth Day – and they’re celebrating big.

A dozen hospitals in Maryland will be beating the environmental drum on Earth Day, according to a survey administered by Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E). The activities will range in size and scope, but all will attempt to combine education and fun.

Health care accounts for 8% of the U.S. carbon-footprint, and Maryland hospitals are stepping up to be stewards of the health of the whole community, including patients, staff, and surrounding neighbors, by taking concrete steps to reduce their environmental impact.

In 2007, only four hospitals in Maryland had a green team, a group of employees dedicated to fostering sustainable programs. Today, over two-thirds of acute care hospitals in Maryland have one. And what better way to showcase their hard work and environmental policies and educate the community than with Earth Day festivities?

Have sensitive papers to get rid of? Go to Carroll Hospital Center, where a truck outfitted with a shredder will be ready to shred onsite and recycle the papers of hospital staff and Carroll County residents. A local vendor will also be available to collect used batteries. But it’s not all about recycling – a local landscaper will be handing out free evergreen seedlings, and the cafeteria will be serving local sustainable chicken and increasing their vegetarian options all week long. Said Colleen Duerr, Carroll Hospital Center’s Green Team Chair, “Everyone here [at the hospital], from the executive team down, knows how hard the green team is working. So we’re excited to show that to the community and to engage with them.” Carroll Hospital Center is the first hospital in Maryland to use sustainability management software, which the green team will be displaying with their savings – greening can indeed save money – from the past year.

Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) will be throwing their Earth Day fair for employees and volunteers, which will include a four zoned event: Farmers’ Market, GBMC Green Team, Individual/Home Sustainability, and Plants and Gardening. According to Mike Forthman, Vice President of Facilities and Support Services, “This event allows employees to participate as well as to be educated on way to improve their environmental sustainability at both work and home. There are many small steps that they can take that add up to big improvements.” GBMC will provide recycling stations for cell phones, eyeglasses, and alkaline batteries. Community Supported Agricultures (CSAs) will be available for sign-up; a CSA allows employees to prepay for a season’s worth of produce, delivered to GBMC right from the farm.

Going green is also a great way to save resources. On Earth Day, University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) will host a scrub swap, where staff can bring their gently used scrubs and trade with each other. UMMC will also feature a water test station to encourage employees to drink tap water instead of buying bottled water (but make sure to recycle the bottle if you do). “It provides an excellent opportunity to educate folks on what we’ve been doing regarding sustainability, which staff are always happy to hear about,” said Sustainability Manager Denise Choiniere. “We have giveaways and prizes, too!” Educational posters will include topics from the effects of plastic on the environment to Baltimore City public transportation options.

Events are taking place at hospitals across the state, celebrating sustainable efforts that will continue to grow as healthcare delves deeper into all things “green.”

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For a complete list of hospitals that responded to MD H2E’s Earth Day Event Survey, contact Molly Englund at englund@son.umaryland.edu.

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MD H2E) is a technical assistance and networking initiative that promotes environmental sustainability in health care. Participants include hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, research laboratories, and other ancillary health care providers in Maryland.

For more information on MD H2E see www.mdh2e.org.

Practice Greenhealth Announces Winners of 2011 Environmental Excellence Awards, 11 Go to Maryland Hospitals

Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s only membership association devoted to environmentally responsible health care, has announced its 2011 Environmental Excellence Award winners. These competitive awards are given within the health care sector to institutions for outstanding programs to reduce the facility’s environmental footprint. 11 awards went to Maryland hospitals, plus a Champion for Change Award for MD H2E!

Congratulations to all the winners! Here’s to your continued success.

System for Change Award

Bon Secours Health System – Marriottsville, MD

2010 Partner for Change, with Distinction Award

Bon Secours Hospital (Bon Secours Baltimore Health Corporation) – Baltimore, MD

University of Maryland Medical Center – Baltimore, MD

Partner for Change Award

Franklin Square Hospital Center – Baltimore, MD

Good Samaritan Hospital – Baltimore, MD

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid Atlantic States – Rockville, MD

Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center – Baltimore, MD

Northwest Hospital – Baltimore, MD

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore – Baltimore, MD

Partner Recognition

Harbor Hospital – Baltimore, MD

St. Mary’s Hospital – Leonardtown, MD

Champion for Change Award

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment – Baltimore, MD

Welcome to the MDH2E April 2011 News Roundup. Hospitals are doing so much this spring; it’s certainly exciting for us. Read to see! Inside, find articles on:

• Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Trailblazer Education Event: A Recap
• LifeBridge Health’s Upcoming Trailblazer Education Event: April 19^th
• Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital’s Green Team
• Chester River Hospital System’s Healthy Food Initiative
• Carroll Hospital Center Increases Sustainable Meat Purchasing
• MHA’s “Green Index” Contract Directory
• US Green Building Council’s LEED for Health Care
• Developing a Transportation Plan
• Green Pharmacy
• MD H2E Food Conference: May 5^th
• MNA Environmental Health Committee
• And more!

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 at: englund@son.umaryland.edu

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

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

7:30 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.

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

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

Location

University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 W. Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Still the same low price!

$65  until Mon Nov 7
$80  at the door
$25  student rate

20% discount for groups of 5 or more!

$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 register or view the full conference schedule, go to:

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

MD H2E Presents:

Trailblazer Education Series

Environmental Management Systems, Franklin Square Hospital Center

May 24, 8:30 – 11:00 am

9000 Franklin Square Dr
Rosedale, Maryland 21237

As a winner of MD H2E’s 2010 Trailblazer Awards, Franklin Square Hospital Center is hosting a morning session May 24th on their sustainable successes. Come to learn, network with your peers, and more!

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Franklin Square has made a variety of impressive strides in embedding sustainability both in the design and operation of its hospital and reports three separate practices in its Trailblazing activities. First, Franklin Square Hospital Center is the first Maryland hospital to develop and implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) as a method for reducing environmental impacts. Second, as part of MedStar Health, Franklin Square Hospital Center began a hazardous pharmaceutical waste management program in 2007 that as of this year is fully operational system-wide. Finally, while designing and building the new Patient Care Tower and Emergency Department, Franklin Square Hospital Center has implemented a multitude of LEED-compliant features.

Please RSVP to trailblazer@son.umaryland.edu by May 10th

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

This is the fourth in an ongoing Trailblazer education series.

Next:

· Integrated Pest Management, Springfield Hospital Center— June 21

An article from the Associated Press earlier this month featured the tidal change hospital food is experiencing around the country. The article states that, “…a number of hospitals are breaking the old Jell-O mold, blending feeling better with tasting better as they liven up patient menus with the likes of fresh blood oranges and shrimp scampi.”

One hospital mentioned in the article is Maryland’s own Union Hospital of Cecil County:

“Union Hospital in Elkton, Maryland, buys cage-free eggs, organic produce from local growers and grass-fed beef. Food service manager Holly Emmons said that while buying local and organic can be more labor intensive – everyone in the kitchen pitches in to husk corn during the summer – the extra effort is worth it.”

The article has spoken to people nationwide; it has been picked up by more 120 news outlets across the country! And the attention is well deserved. Hospital food has long been derided, but as the local, sustainable food movement gains traction in the United States, it makes sense that health care would be eager to participate.  Of all institutions, hospitals understand the connection between healthy eating and healthy living, and many are making changes in the food they provide to reflect that.

Congratulations to Union Hospital and all who were highlighted in the piece!

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Hospitals try cooking up better food for patients

Haute cuisine, hospital style; chefs breaking Jell-O mold for better patient food

Michael Hill, Associated Press.

Reprinted with permission of the Associated Press 2011

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — Haute cuisine is to hospital food as coq au vin is to mystery meat, right?

Maybe once, but a number of hospitals are breaking the old Jell-O mold, blending feeling better with tasting better as they liven up patient menus with the likes of fresh blood oranges and shrimp scampi.

The movement toward tastier — and often more nutritious — hospital food even has reached the Culinary Institute of America, the well-known school for chefs north of New York City, which is offering a first-of-its-kind course on cooking for health care patients.

Students in the elective class are taking field trips to nearby Vassar Brothers Medical Center and to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. The idea is to learn first-hand the nuances of tray lines, the challenges of serving people with severe dietary restrictions and what goes into creating higher-end hospital food.

“I want to break this image. I want to embarrass people when they say ‘Hospital food? Their food is awful,” said Lynne Eddy, who is teaching Food Service Management in Health Care. “Let me show you what good food is in a health care facility.”

But this is about more than taste. Food that is both good and nutritious can help patients heal, as well as boost their morale, said Eddy.

It’s natural that the same American consumers who scout out fresh basil at the grocer and hormone-free beef at Mexican restaurants want a similar experience when they’re hospitalized. And customizing meals for patients and efforts to become more “gastronomically conscious” have helped the health care food service industry grow 4 percent last year, according market researcher Packaged Facts. Growth is expected to continue as executives in the competitive health care industry become more attuned to overall patient satisfaction.

Clearly, there still are hospitals that serve up bland or overcooked food. But a growing number are crafting meals that resemble restaurant fare or are stressing local and organic ingredients. Or both.

Seattle Children’s Hospital, for example, has swapped out white breads and pastas for whole wheat and pumped up its vegetable content. Executive chef Walter Bronowitz is introducing an Asian noodle stir fry made with whole-wheat spaghetti, carrots, onions, mushrooms and shelled edamame.

Union Hospital in Elkton, Maryland, buys cage-free eggs, organic produce from local growers and grass-fed beef. Food service manager Holly Emmons said that while buying local and organic can be more labor intensive — everyone in the kitchen pitches in to husk corn during the summer — the extra effort is worth it.

Patients at facilities run by California-based Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans, might eat ancho-citrus marinated loin of pork over an essence of natural jus, paired with cinnamon-stewed apples, barley pilaf and broccoli. Kaiser, which also runs farmer’s markets at many of its facilities, puts an emphasis on serving patients fresh fruits and vegetables.

“We certainly started that process of trying to see what’s available closer to home, what’s seasonal and trying to put those fresher, more local products on the trays,” said Dr. Preston Maring, who spearheads many of Kaiser’s healthy foods initiatives.

Hospitals are stressing nutritious and sustainable foods as people become more conscious of the role of food in health, patient experience and sustainability, said Michelle Gottlieb of Health Care Without Harm, a coalition of medical professionals and others devoted sustainable health care practices.

“This is just becoming much more mainstream,” said Gottlieb, who co-chairs the group’s Healthy Food in Healthcare program.

If there is a five-star kitchen in the world of hospital food, it might be at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where top restaurant veteran chef Pnina Peled has attracted attention for the creative dishes she whips up for young cancer patients.

One 8-year-old boy on a restricted diet after a bone marrow transplant received pasta carbonara with low-fat milk instead of heavy cream, whole-wheat pasta and turkey bacon. Another young girl with a bone marrow transplant who mentioned she liked the chain restaurant Moe’s Southwest Grill was fixed up by Peled with sauteed and seasoned black bean dishes with blue chips on the side.

The girl loves it, her parents are grateful and Peled can barely explain how much that means to her as a chef.

“I can’t even tell you,” Peled said. “It’s amazing how fulfilling it is to be able to give them that.”

“It’s one thing to cook in a restaurant and get excited about everybody coming to your restaurant and loving your food,” she said. “But it’s another thing to know that these people who have eating challenges, have taste issues, have nausea and sometimes vomiting actually look forward to what I do — look forward to eating here. You don’t normally look forward to eating at a hospital.”

Eddy’s small culinary class visited Peled’s operation at Sloan-Kettering in late February, a highlight of the management class that included instruction on menu planning and buying food for health care facilities. Also, it almost certainly is the only course at the culinary institute that requires students to read a book about a terminally ill patient.

Eddy is adamant that her students spend time making observations in hospitals. That brought student Megan Eckhardt recently to Vassar Brothers, where she was briefed by the dietitian, snapped off a series of pictures in the kitchen and received an impromptu knife-skills lesson from executive chef Anthony Fischetti as she sliced peppers for patients’ chicken or tofu stir fries that night.

“No, no, no, no,” Fischetti said. “I’ll show you an easy way to do a pepper.”

Fischetti took the knife, placed a fresh pepper on the counter and nimbly sliced off four ready-to-slice pepper cheeks free of seeds.

Fischetti is himself a 1978 graduate of the culinary institute who did his share of late-night New York City restaurant work in his youth before he switched to health care. He likes the work, and the hours. There are differences in serving a party of four versus 220 patients, but Fischetti notes there still is room for fresh-baked desserts and other culinary touches at a hospital.

“A chicken is a chicken,” he said. “OK, we’re not going to make a perigourdine sauce. But we’ll serve some fresh herbs.”