Green Neighbours at RMH
Publication date: August 23, 2011
The team at Ross Memorial Hospital works hard to be a responsible neighbour, a good corporate citizen and a community leader in environmental awareness. The hospital and its “Go Green Team” are proud of their accomplishments over the past three years.
Their recent initiatives include a vermiculture program, which earned the hospital the Ontario Hospital Association’s Green Healthcare Award for Overall Leadership in 2009 and commendation from Accreditation Canada. The program involves tens of thousands of red-wiggler worms which help to speed up the composting of food waste. The soil created from the compost enriches the Continuing Care therapy garden, in which patients cultivate herbs and vegetables. These are then used by the chefs in the Nutrition Services department as they create healthy meals to sell in the cafeteria.
The recycling program has been enhanced; packaging has been reduced in the kitchen and styrofoam cups have been replaced with reusable cups and containers and environmentally sensitive alternatives to traditional disposables. “Recycle centres” in every department and in the cafeteria make it easy for all staff to sort their garbage and recyclables. Furthermore, the new Just-in-Time (JIT) stockless inventory process that utilizes re-usable carts significantly reduces the amount of packaging that arrives at the hospital, thereby reducing the overall amount going to landfill.
Energy conservation is also a priority; green initiatives within the Maintenance Department include a boiler retrofit that has reduced the usage of natural gas, and
re-engineering to reduce water consumption. “High efficiency” energy-savers have replaced almost all hallway lights and energy-saving motion detectors for lights and touchless faucets in sinks have been installed.
In 2010, the hospital engaged Honeywell engineers and auditors to assess water, heating and air conditioning, lighting, ventilation and air quality systems. This year, Honeywell will perform an energy retrofit involving work on air handler zone controls and scheduling, water saving measures, and a new air handler for the kitchen area. The estimated energy and operational savings is $170,000 per year.
Housekeeping staff is using new environmentally-friendly cleaning products and water-reducing cleaning techniques. Chemical-free lawn maintenance is practised, and through the implementation of the “Shred-it” program, the hospital is saving trees from destruction.
RMH has partnered with Daniels International to implement a unique Sharpsmart sharps containment system that improves safety of healthcare workers when disposing of sharps and lessens the environmental impact at the same time. By reusing containers instead of throwing them out, significant reduction to overall waste volumes can be achieved. In fact, over 3.2 tonnes of plastic discard recovery and 0.1 tonne of cardboard discard recovery is projected annually under this partnership.
One green initiative has captured the enthusiasm of the entire hospital team. On Earth Day, April 20th, the Go Green team encouraged all departments in the hospital to “adopt” a garden. There are 16 gardens at RMH, varying in size. The project is an effort to ensure the grounds remain beautiful yet cost-effective to maintain. It’s also a great way for staff to show some pride in their hospital.
Some employees brought perennials from home; others purchased annuals for their department’s flower-bed. Before and after pictures were taken of each department’s garden, and on the first day of summer, they were judged (the Dialysis Unit won).
Wanda Goard, Supervisor of Patient Food Services, is a member of the Go Green team. She and her colleagues were thrilled when they saw how quickly the gardens were adopted. “It’s amazing how enthusiastically everyone got behind this effort. We were a little worried that it wouldn’t work, because everyone’s so busy between their work and their homes, they probably have trouble planting their own gardens. But it just goes to show you, how much this hospital means to everyone. We feel really good about it, and we want that to show – from the inside out.”