Marriottsville, MD, May 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bon Secours Health System has been selected as the winner of Practice Greenhealth’s 2016 System for Change Award for the sixth year. This environmental excellence award is bestowed upon health systems which have proven success in improving environmental performance and demonstrated dedication to a higher standard of sustainability. Practice Greenhealth is a national membership organization for health care facilities committed to environmentally responsible operations.
The System for Change Award recognizes health systems that are working cohesively to gather data, set system goals, benchmark, and share successes in environmental performance. System for Change Award winners have at least five hospitals or long-term care facilities and joined Practice Greenhealth as a health system. A minimum of 20 percent of the health system’s facilities must also apply for and meet the minimum criteria for the Partner for Change Award the same year in order for the system to receive this Award.
“As a system, Bon Secours strives to make a difference in our hospitals’ communities by setting goals, monitoring our sustainability progress, and collecting data that can demonstrate our success,” said Camille Grippon, Bon Secours' director of ecology and global ministries. “As a result, we are not only improving the health of our community, we’re also saving our environment and saving money—savings that can help lower costs for our patients and health care across the country as well."
Local health system facilities also received awards for ecological stewardship. Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital-Eastside , Greenville, South Carolina, and Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond, Virginia , received the highest possible recognition for their greening efforts, the Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award . The Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award recognizes health care facilities that exemplify environmental excellence and are setting the highest standards for environmental practices in health care. Award winners are chosen from hospitals that have the highest scores for the Greenhealth Emerald Award using Practice Greenhealth's thorough scoring and evaluation system.
Seven other Bon Secours facilities, Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Norfolk, Virginia; Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia; Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville, Virginia; Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital, Richmond, Virginia; Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian, Virginia; Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, Ashland, Kentucky; St. Francis Hospital-Downtown, Greenville, South Carolina received the second highest award recognition, the Greenhealth Emerald Award , for showcasing superior sustainability efforts. The Greenhealth Emerald Award is a very competitive award that recognizes health care facilities that have achieved improvements in their mercury elimination, waste reduction, recycling, and source reduction programs – above and beyond the Partner for Change criteria. Winning hospitals are selected using Practice Greenhealth’s improved scoring and evaluation system, and are further along the path to sustainability and show leadership in the local community and in the health care sector.
Three facilities, Bon Secours Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland; Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital, Newport News, Virginia; Schervier Nursing Care Center, Riverdale, New York received the Greenhealth Partner for Change award. The Greenhealth Partner for Change Award recognizes health care facilities that continuously improve and expand upon their mercury elimination, waste reduction, recycling, and source reduction programs. At a minimum, facilities applying for this award must be recycling 15 percent of their total waste, have reduced regulated medical waste, are well along the way to mercury elimination, and have developed other successful pollution prevention programs in many different areas.
Two facilities, Bon Secours Maria Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, St. Petersburg, Florida and Rappahannock General Hospital, Kilmarnock, Virginia received Partner Recognition . The Partner Recognition Award is given to health care facilities that have begun to work on environmental improvements, have achieved some progress, and have at least a ten percent recycling rate for their total waste stream.
The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards were presented in Dallas, Texas, May 19 at the CleanMed Conference & Exhibition , The premier national environmental conference for leaders in health care sustainability.
About Bon Secours Health System, Inc.
Bon Secours Health System, Inc. based in Marriottsville, Maryland, is a $3.5 billion dollar not- for-profit Catholic health system that owns, manages or joint ventures 19 acute care, 5 long term care, 4 assisted living, 6 retirement communities/senior housing, 14 home care and hospice services, and other facilities, primarily on the East Coast. Bon Secours Health System consists of more than 23,000 caregivers helping people in six states. Its vision is to be a prophetic Catholic health ministry partnering with communities to create a more humane world, build health and social justice and provide exceptional value for those served. For more information, visit www.bshsi.org .
About Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading health care community dedicated to transforming health care worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint, becomes a community anchor for sustainability and a leader in the global movement for environmental health and justice. To learn more about Practice Greenhealth visit www.practicegreenhealth.org .
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Diana Stager Bon Secours Health System 410-442-5511 Diana_Stager@bshsi.org
