News Release

June 10, 2008

Contact: Chris DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914
e-mail: cdefrancesco@uchc.edu

UConn Health Center Wins National Environmental Award

FARMINGTON, CONN. – The University of Connecticut Health Center has won an Environmental Excellence Award from Practice Greenhealth, an independent not-for-profit organization that works with health care organizations to adopt best environmental practices.

The UConn Health Center was one of 50 U.S. health care facilities honored with a 2008 Partner for Change Award, which recognizes “those facilities that are helping to create healthy, healing environments and are committed to eliminating mercury and reducing waste and pollution,” says Practice Greenhealth Executive Director Bob Jarboe.

The Health Center established an Environmental Sustainability Action Committee last year, and since then has taken steps to promote energy conservation, recycling, carpooling, and the use of environmentally responsible cleaning products. Renewable sources make up 12 percent of the electrical energy the Health Center purchases, compared to 5 percent last year.

“We constantly monitor our waste and look for improvements,” says Health Center Building and Grounds Director Tom Elliott. “Our medical and dental students have been active in securing more recycling containers; in fact, more and more people are getting involved and taking control of the recycling efforts in their areas and improving the rate at which we recycle bottles, cans and paper. Really the entire Health Center is involved in the green movement, and the results are positive.”

Practice Greenhealth presented its 2008 awards last month in Pittsburgh in conjunction with CleanMed 2008, a global conference for environmental leaders in health care.

Photo: http://www.h2e-online.org/images/awards/2008/full/BBB_0247.jpg
Caption: UConn Health Center Building and Grounds Director Tom Elliott accepts an Environmental Excellence Award from Susan Vickers and Bob Jarboe (right) of Practice Greenhealth.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

Note: News professionals are invited to visit the UConn Health Today news page (http://today.uchc.edu) for regularly updated news and feature stories, photos and media stories. News releases are archived at http://today.uchc.edu/newsreleases/2014. UConn Health news and information is also available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.