April 17, 2002
Contact: Carolyn Edy
Vice President, Communications
(603) 255-0900

N.H. Hospital Association recognized
for outstanding environmental leadership

The New Hampshire Hospital Association has just received a national "Champions for Change" award in recognition of its leadership in promoting pollution prevention in health care.

The award was given by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), a joint effort by the American Hospital Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Nurses Association, and Health Care Without Harm. The goals of H2E are to eliminate mercury-containing waste from the health care waste stream, to reduce the volume of generated waste, and to minimize the production of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants.

"If H2E is going to meet its waste reduction goals of 50 percent by 2010 and its goal of virtual elimination of mercury by 2005, we need to throw the net far and wide in the health care industry, and our Champions for Change award winners are excelling in that effort," said H2E coordinator Laura Brannon.

The New Hampshire Hospital Association actively promotes the concepts of waste reduction, pollution prevention and energy efficiency to New Hampshire hospitals. NHHA communicates environmental news and resources through "STAT Green," a quarterly environmental newsletter, and its Web site, www.nhha.org. It recently established the New Hampshire Hospitals for a Healthy Environment network, whose primary goal is to reduce both the volume and toxicity of hospital waste and to advance the goals of H2E. Additionally, NHHA provides environmental education programs. This June, NHHA will offer "Reducing Our Ecological Footprint," a workshop that will present opportunities to minimize health care's environmental impact through improved purchasing and disposal choices.

"We're proud to be recognized for our environmental improvement efforts." said Debbie Augustine, environmental affairs coordinator at NHHA. "Our involvement in H2E reflects our belief that one critical way to promote the health of our communities is to protect the environment we all share."

NHHA was one of 11 organizations in the U.S. chosen to receive the Champion's for Change Award at the First Annual H2E Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony on April 8th at the annual meeting of the American Hospital Association in Washington, DC.
For more information and a complete list of winners, please see www.h2e-online.org.

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