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New Ulm Medical Center Wins Partners for Change Award
NEW ULM, Minn. 06/02/2006-- New Ulm Medical Center has received praise for its significant efforts to improve environmental performance while delivering quality patient care, which has earned them the national Hospitals for a Healthy Environment Partners for Change Award. This award follows another recent award from OSHA that certified New Ulm Medical Center as a MNStar site for its work on safety.
The Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) Partners for Change Award recognizes hospitals that acknowledge and act upon the crucial link between community and environmental health. The award is given annually to facilities that have made significant and sustainable progress toward reducing waste, preventing pollution, and eliminating mercury. Recipients reduce, reuse, and/or recycle at least 10 percent of their total waste each year, and often find that these pollution prevention programs benefit both their communities and their bottom line.
New Ulm Medical Center received this national recognition due to its many projects that are environmentally friendly, including eliminating mercury, using recycled material when appropriate, having energy efficient windows, using the natural spring below New Ulm Medical Center in the air cooling process and a natural irrigation system for landscaping.
“By focusing on environmental sustainability, New Ulm Medical Center is playing an active role in the health care sector’s fundamental shift toward protecting public health instead of simply treating disease,” said Laura Brannen, Director of Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. “New Ulm Medical Center is to be commended for its visionary efforts to create a healthier environment for their patients, staff, and community, and for setting the example for other hospitals to follow.”
“Here at New Ulm Medical Center, we believe that protecting the health of our environment is crucial to protecting the health of the community we serve,” said Laurie McPhee, manager of safety and support services. “Because of this, we are committed to continually improving our environmental impact to make our hospital safer and healthier for our patients, staff, community, and the global environment.”
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) is a non-profit group focused on improving health care’s environmental performance. H2E is based on the vision of a healthy health care system – a system that embraces safer building products, clean air, energy and water efficiency, safe working practices, and a commitment to public health demonstrated through waste volume and toxicity reduction. Jointly founded by the American Hospital Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, Health Care Without Harm, and the American Nurses Association, H2E educates health care professionals about pollution prevention opportunities, rewards the sector’s best performers, and provides a wealth of practical tools and resources to facilitate the industry’s movement toward environmental sustainability.
New Ulm Medical Center is a not-for-profit regional medical center committed to providing exceptional care and improving the health of the communities it serves. Part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, information about New Ulm Medical Center’s services along with the latest health information can be found online at www.newulmmedicalcenter.com.
Photo Caption: Pictured are New Ulm Medical Center employees that were instrumental in implementing environmentally friendly policies and programs that earned NUMC the national H2E Partners for Change Award. From left to right are Kathy Runck, Laurie McPhee, Mary Armstrong and Dave Wenk.
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