Oklahoma City VA Health Care System
Oklahoma City VA Receives Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Award
August 27, 2018
OKLAHOMA CITY—In recognition for successful programs to reduce their environmental impact, the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System received the Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care. The award is one of the Environmental Excellence Awards given each year to honor environmental achievements in the health care sector.
The Partner for Change Award recognizes health care facilities that continuously improve and expand upon programs to eliminate mercury, reduce and recycle waste, source products sustainably, and more. Winning facilities must demonstrate that they are recycling at least 15 percent of their total waste, have reduced regulated medical waste, are on track to eliminate mercury, and have developed successful sustainability programs in many areas.
The Oklahoma City VA was recognized for efforts including cardboard recycling, xylene recycling in our laboratory and scrap metal recycling from construction sites.
“As health care providers, sustainability is at the core of our healing mission and central to protecting the health of our patients, staff and community,” said Rowene Lant, Environment of Care Chief at the Oklahoma City VA. “We take pride in our sustainability programs and the positive impacts they have on the environment and the communities we serve.”
The award was presented at the Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards Gala in San Diego.
About Oklahoma City VA Health Care System
The Oklahoma City VA Health Care System (VAHCS) consists of a 178-operating bed hospital located in central Oklahoma and outpatient clinics in Ada, Altus, Ardmore, Blackwell, Enid, Lawton, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, and Wichita Falls. The Oklahoma City VAHCS is a teaching hospital, providing a full range of patient care services, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research. Last year our 2,200 employees cared for over 60,000 Veterans through 50,568 inpatient bed days of care and 655,945 outpatient visits. Additional information is available on our website: www.oklahoma.va.gov.
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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