Arlington, VA — Hospital Administrators, clinicians and staff as well as businesses and organizations servicing the health care community are gathered in Phoenix, AZ, to discuss progress and map out new strategies for greening the health care sector. CleanMed, the nation’s most important and influential conference on sustainable health care, is holding its 2011 conference April 6-8, 2011 in the ‘Valley of the Sun’. 

"CleanMed is intended as not only a learning experience, but as a way to set out the health care sustainability agenda for the coming year."

— Peter Diamond
Director of CleanMed

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon will welcome conference attendees at the conference opening today. Keynote speaker of the conference will be Lloyd Dean, President & CEO of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW). CHW is a leading not-for-profit system of greater than 40 hospitals and care centers that are serving communities across California, Arizona and Nevada.

The conference is sponsored each year by Health Care Without Harm, the campaign for environmentally responsible healthcare, and Practice Greenhealth, a membership association for hospitals and businesses engaged in sustainable health care. In addition to serving as Practice Greenhealth’s main annual membership meeting, CleanMed is also the venue for the Practice Greenhealth Sustainability awards. This year more than 250 awards will be bestowed for various hospital and business achievements in health care sustainability.

“We are very proud of the achievements of our members over the past year,” stated Anna Gilmore Hall, executive director of Practice Greenhealth. “These members take greening their operations very seriously, and work diligently to put programs in place that are worthy of recognition and sharing.” This year, one member of Practice Greenhealth’s Leadership Circle, Bon Secours Health System, was chosen to participate in the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, a collaborative of health care systems that are spearheading a system-wide collective approach to sustainable health-care. This honor is given to one health system each year from the pool of Leadership Circle winners.

Health Care Without Harm Awards at CleanMed includes the organization’s highest honor, the Environmental Health Hero Award, which this year was presented to Ted H. Schettler, MD, M.P.H. Dr. Schettler has been a practicing physician and health facility administrator as well as a tireless advocate for study of environmental health. He has written dozens of reports, journal articles and books on the link between environment and health. Dr. Schettler is currently science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network; science director of the Collaborative on Health and Environment; and science advisor for Health Care Without Harm. Presented annually, the Environmental Health Hero Award recognizes an individual whose professional accomplishments have significantly contributed to advances in environmental health science or policy. The award is given to someone whose achievements have both deepened our understanding of the critical links between health and the environment; and have catalyzed tangible policy.

During CleanMed 2011, Karen Bowman, MN, RN, COHN-S, will receive the Charlotte Brody Award, which recognizes a nurse’s endeavors towards “brilliantly lighting the way to a healthier environment and inspiring other nurses to do the same.” The Charlotte Brody Award is sponsored by Health Care Without Harm’s Nurses Working Group, and the Luminary Project, which showcases the environmental work of nurses all over the world.

Ms. Bowman has contributed extensively to environmental health nursing through clinical practice, public education, political advocacy, publication, and professional service. Karen precepts nursing and environmental science students from Seattle University, Western Washington University and the University of Washington in environmental health policy and advocacy, giving students “hands-on” experience in the legislative arena where they learn that one person can actually make a difference. Her position as the Environmental Health Specialist for the Washington State Nurses Association strategically places her in a prime position to advocate for State and Federal environmental health legislation.

“Ted and Karen are not only invaluable to the Health Care Without Harm campaign, they are doing a service to all of us,” stated Gary Cohen, President of Health Care Without Harm. “By keeping the spotlight on the environmental contaminants that pollute the environment and threaten public health, and by being tireless advocates to ensure that policies are enacted that proactively protect health and reduce harm caused by environmental contamination, they exemplify the spirit of our campaign.”

In addition to the awards and educational sessions, the CleanMed Exhibits and Exposition is showcasing vendors and service providers that offer sustainable products and services to the health care sector. A special section of the Exposition was dedicated to Greening the OR (Operating Room), a new program that helps clinicians and other hospital personnel incorporate sustainability into the operating arena.

“This conference is the most important sustainability event of the year for the health care sector,” stated Peter Diamond, director of CleanMed. “It is intended as not only a learning experience, but as a way to set out the health care sustainability agenda for the coming year.”

For more information on CleanMed 2011, please visit www.cleanmed.org.
Heath Care without Harm, an international coalition of more than 500 organizations in 53 countries, is working to transform the health care sector, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. To learn more about HCWH's work, visit our website at www.noharm.org, our YouTube channel at HCwithoutharm, and our twitter feed at hcwithoutharm.