By Douglas H. Stutz, Naval Hospital
Bremerton Public Affairs
BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital
Bremerton (NHB) was honored with a "Partner Recognition" award by
Practice Greenhealth, the national membership organization for health care
facilities committed to environmentally responsible stewardship, June 14.
The award was presented to Capt.
Christopher Culp, NHB commanding officer, and recognized NHB for making
significant progress toward environmental performance goals.
The honor is one of the organization's
Environmental Excellence Awards given annually to honor environmental
achievements in the health care sector.
"This award demonstrates our
commitment to beneficiaries, staff and visitors in protecting and preserving
our environment. I am honored to accept it on behalf of our command," said
Culp.
As was the case last year, NHB's
environmental stewardship at home also continues to impact communities
overseas. By receiving this award, a full set of mercury-free digital
thermometers and sphygmomanometers have been donated to seven hospitals in
Bali, Indonesia in honor of the 2012 Environmental Excellence Award winners.
Previously, 100 trees were planted in Tanzania on behalf of NHB which received
the 'Making Medicine Mercury Free' award as part of Practice Greenhealth's 2011
Environmental Excellence Awards.
The Partner Recognition Award is for
health care facilities that have begun to work on environmental improvements,
achieved some progress, and have at least a ten percent recycling rate for the
total waste stream.
Naval Hospital Bremerton is recognized
not only for its 30 percent recycling rate, but also for the successful
completion in expanding the pharmaceutical waste program to outlying clinics,
training staff members in the Green Purchasing Program and for improving the
dental mercury recovery operations.
According to complied figures by NHB's
Environmental department, the main operating room (OR) is a prime example in
recycling efforts at the command. Their surgical savings from recycling efforts
for just three weeks in late 2011 was $11,508. Projected 2012 savings for the
entire year in the main OR by recycling and usage of remanufactured items is
estimated to be at $172,614.
The main OR used to throw away three,
30-gallon bags of garbage per total joint surgery case. Now they recycle three,
30-gallon bags of plastic and have just one 15-gallon bag that is now thrown
away.
"It's a significant reduction in
waste stream to the landfill. It's really an incremental amount of waste
product, and we're staying on top of the process because it's easy to take for
granted. We even recycle the instrument wrappings to use again," said Kevin
Stevenson main OR nurse.
Compiled statistics at NHB show that the
ongoing environmental awareness campaign of recycling is working. Recycled
material (in tons) of paper and paperboard went from 52.25 in 2010 to 55 in
2011; plastic went from 15.53 in 2010 to 15.75; construction debris went from
2.55 in 2010 to 3.66 in 2011; metals and aluminum cans went from 1.90 in 2010
to 2.12 and batteries showed an increase from 0.43 in 2010 to 0.88 in 2011.
Concurrently, and as a direct result of
the command's overall recycle efforts, trash disposed (in tons) fell from
198.50 in 2010 to 190.19 in 2011. Overall, average solid waste disposed by
hospital staff per day fell from 1.18 pounds to 1.12 pounds per day.
"Our goal for 2012 solid waste
disposal per person, per day, is one pound or under. We think that by
continually being actively aware and getting as many people involved as we can,
that we can achieve that," said Ramon Calantas, NHB environmental
technician.
According to Calantas, the
pharmaceutical waste program was implemented at the branch clinic level in 2011
after training clinic staff and coordinating the disposal of pharmaceutical
waste with the area base (Naval Base Kitsap, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, and
Naval Station Everett) Hazardous Waste (HW) departments. This process took
several months. Base HW staff had to review clinic processes and Wash. State
Department of Ecology policy and regulations on pharmaceutical waste disposal
prior to approving several areas in the clinics as satellite accumulation areas
for hazardous waste. Collection areas in the clinics were added a few months
after implementation as clinic staff identified additional areas were
pharmaceutical waste was generated.
Pharmaceutical waste is defined as
pharmaceuticals that cannot be used for their intended purpose or returned to
the distributor for credit; expired/outdated repackaged medications; dropped
pills, tablets, capsules; empty vials/carpules; partially used IV bags with
medication; creams, lotions; and medicines left at the clinic by discharged
patients. The patient info is removed prior to disposal and the clinic will
attempt to contact patient prior to disposal.
"Empty plastic medication
containers from the pharmacy are [also] recycled and the expired, unused medications
are first presented to the Guaranteed Returns Vendor. If the vendor accepts
them, we are given monetary credit. If they are rejected, we dispose them as
pharmaceutical waste," added Calantas.
NHB's involvement in the Green
Purchasing program has led to an increase in the command's efficiency in green
procurement by using100 percent recycled content paper by deleting all other
options from the supply catalog.
"Cindy Carlson, Material Management
Department, sent some of her staff (her buyers) to the Department of Defense
Course "Buying Green: A Multifunctional Approach to Pollution
Prevention" training in early 2011. The course is about purchasing
recycled content materials, energy and water efficient products, alternative
fuel vehicles, biobased products, and environmental preferred products,"
Calantas said, noting that the staff check for green alternatives prior to
buying requested material when any non-clinical supplies have to be ordered.
NHB's "Mercury Elimination
Plan" started with an inventory of supplies, materials and equipment
containing mercury; their locations, manufacturer and quantity, and an
assessment of the feasibility of replacing with mercury-free alternatives as
practicable. The plan also included requirements to ensure mercury free
products are purchased, as well as involvement with maintenance and
construction staff to ensure no mercury items are introduced during repairs or
projects. Much of the progress made in the plan has been the focus on dental
amalgams used in dental procedures now being captured and recycled.
"We have installed a combination of
dental amalgam filter in tandem with mercury removal filters to exceed federal
regulation for mercury in our wastewater," said Calantas. "We
installed the same units in our newly deployed Mobile Dental Van currently at
Everett. We invited Environmental Staff at Everett to showcase what we have
installed in the van to comply with federal, state, and county regulations for
wastewater disposal in the sewer systems. We continue to collect scrap amalgam
from the dental clinics including the empty amalgam capsules. These are sent to
a recycling company instead of disposing as hazardous waste."
The Mercury Elimination Plan has
included having fluorescent lamps being replaced with green tipped, energy
efficient, low mercury lamps; using digital radiology machines that eliminate
any mercury products needed for wet X-ray processing
"Our goal is to eliminate all
mercury from NHB as new alternatives become available." said Robert
Mitchell, NHB environmental manager. "Fortunately, our industry and
manufacturers have responded to this issue, and it's becoming easier to find
safer, cost-effective alternatives. But to further minimize mercury's effect,
Naval Hospital Bremerton has set standards that go beyond regulatory
reductions."
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