COVER STORY
of the instruments so that they can be recycled into things like bumpers and lamp posts.” The result is a mercury-free, lead- free, PVC-free, latex-free, DEHP-free, bisphenol A (BPA)-free and brominated flame retardants (BFR)-free patient care facility. “We do not use mercury fill- ings or BPA-containing fillings,” Koos says. “We use steam sterilization in au- toclaves, so they don’t need chemical discharge ventilators.” ORA Oral Surgery & Implant Stu- dio also uses thermal disinfectors that use less water and conserve 3,000 gal- lons of water annually. “We use a dry vacuum system that saves 380 gallons of water a day,” Koos says. “We save 108,000 gallons of water a year com- pared to conventional practices.” The surgery center has worked on
reducing its carbon footprint. “We cal- culated what a single patient visit in a typical outpatient surgical office would be, as far as carbon footprint/green- house gas emission is concerned, and it is 37.2 pounds of carbon,” Koos says. “We’ve reduced that to .042 pounds.” The center uses environmentally
preferable products and has service pol- icies that outline guidelines that meet the environmental goals of the practice, such as making orders in bulk to reduce the carbon footprint created in shipping and packaging. DuPage Medical Group (DMG) Im- mediate Care Center in Lisle, Illinois, also has jumped on the green bandwag- on, putting in place some of the same strategies to improve sustainability. “We’re practically paperless,” says
Ted Shieh, medical director. “We’re try- ing to limit the usage of pharmaceuti- cals, such as bottles and vials. We also reduced the amount of single-use equip- ment used. It might be cheaper to use disposable surgical sets in the short run, and we still have them as backup, but we got a steam autoclave to sterilize surgical and procedural instruments. We’re also using a linen service for patient gowns,
14 ASC FOCUS APRIL 2013 Learn More about Going Green
Founded as a stand-alone member- ship organization in 2008, Practice Greenhealth (
www.practicegreen-
health.org) of Reston, Virginia, is a membership and networking orga- nization for health care institutions that take part in sustainable, envi- ronmentally preferable practices. Its members include more than 1,200 hospitals and health care systems, health care providers, manufacturers and service providers, architectural, engineering and design firms, group purchasing organizations (GPOs) and affiliated nonprofits.
Practice Greenhealth provides tech- nical assistance, tools and recogni- tion to its members and, with Health Care Without Harm, co-organizes the CleanMed conference, a na- tional environmental conference, each year. The group works with its
towels and covers on our exam room stretchers. It’s more comfortable and en- vironmentally friendlier; it’s less expen- sive and makes more sense.” The center is regulating its medi-
cal waste and educating its staff on techniques that help. “We’re forcing people to think about what they’re us- ing,” Shieh says. A recycling contractor is scheduled to come in soon. “We’re also looking to use IV fluids that are in PVC-free bags. PVC in IV fluids has been associated with hormonal disrup- tions, so there are health reasons as well,” he says.
Building Green To house an ASC in a sustainable and environmentally friendly building is just as important as functioning green, Koos says. “From the inception of our office in 2008, we were involved with the green initiative,” he says. “It started with the construction of the office. We were committed to building a sustain- able and eco-friendly structure. We
members to support, design and imple- ment sustainable health care initiatives, including:
■ preventing and reducing waste; ■ achieving carbon neutrality; ■ reducing energy and water use; ■
■ increasing recycling; ■
■
purchasing environmentally prefer- able products;
phasing out hazardous substances and toxic chemicals;
minimizing use of and exposure to hazardous chemicals, including persis- tent, bio-accumulative and toxic (PBT) substances;
■
reducing health care’s environmental footprint through resource conserva- tion and other measurable environ- mental improvements; and
wanted to marry the concept of building green and operating green. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifies the structure, but then it’s equally important to function green as well.” The ASC is housed in a LEED for Commercial Interiors-certified build- ing. It is 100 percent wind-powered and has been awarded gold certifica- tion by the Eco-Dentistry Association (
www.ecodentistry.org). In average, the building consumes less energy than standard outpatient health care build- ings. “According to the US Energy In- formation Administration, outpatient health care buildings consume 95,000 British Thermal Units per square foot per year,” Koos says. “We are about 28 percent more efficient than that.” Like Koos’s ASC, Shieh’s center is housed in a state-of-the-art building with energy-efficient features, such as light-emitting diode lighting, motion sensors for overhead lighting, thermo- stats that turn on only when people are
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