EPA recognizes sustainable hospitals with Trailblazer Award

WASHINGTON D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized several hospitals for their environmental leadership efforts and their commitment to pollution prevention, according to a press release.

According to the release, the Trailblazer Award recognizes hospitals across the EPA's region 3 — Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington — that have stepped up their sustainable practices.

The six Trailblazer Award winners from the state of Maryland are: the Atlantic General Hospital; the Franklin Square Hospital Center; LifeBridge Health; the Montgomery General Hospital; the University of Maryland Medical Center; and the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System, the release stated.

Virginia Thompson, sustainable health care sector manager for the mid-Atlantic region of the EPA, said: "These hospitals are successfully demonstrating leadership and innovation in reducing their environmental footprint. They have undertaken a challenging task and have produced measurable results in many cases, demonstrating what can be accomplished when hospitals take advantage both of senior executive support and grounds-up initiative from across the hospitals' many departments."

Nominations were reviewed by a panel of judges from the EPA and other organizations involved in working to move health care toward sustainable operations; all award decisions were made based solely on the merits of the information provided in the award nomination, the release noted.

Others regional Trailblazer Award winners include the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Doylestown Hospital and the Christiana Care Health System, the release added.

Click here to read the complete release.