UF Health Shands Hospital recognized for its leadership in environmental sustainability

UF Health Shands Hospital has been honored for the fifth year in a row by Practice Greenhealth, a leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care.

UF Health Shands Hospital earned two awards for 2023 — the Greenhealth Emerald Award and the Greening the OR Circles of Excellence Award.

The Circles of Excellence Awards celebrate hospitals that not only earned an award for all-around sustainability achievement but have also been identified as the top-scoring programs for each sustainability category.

The competitive Greenhealth Emerald Award recognizes the top 20% of applicants and is focused on advanced sustainability programs and exemplary scores in a range of categories.

“We are incredibly honored to again be recognized by Practice Greenhealth for our sustainability efforts at UF Health Shands,” said Lauren Berkow, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology in the University of Florida College of Medicine and chief of the division of Neuroanesthesia and co-chair of the UF Health Shands Sustainability Committee. “It is a huge accomplishment to be included in the Greening the OR Circle of Excellence — only 10 hospitals out of all the applicants who apply for Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence Awards are recognized each year with this honor.”

UF Health Shands’ sustainability efforts have resulted in a variety of notable achievements, said Tedd Comerford, associate vice president of Supply Chain Services and Materials Management and co-chair of the sustainability committee.

For example, the hospital saved 135 tons of food from being sent to a landfill through composting. The hospital also made a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by not purchasing or using Desflurane, a common anesthetic used in operating rooms that is 2540 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

A Shands print initiative saved about 2 million sheets of paper from being used, resulting in the conservation of 200,000 gallons of water and 240 trees, Comerford said. The hospital buildings are also continuously monitored for optimal energy performance.

“The Practice Greenhealth environmental awards for UF Health Shands are, once again, great news and just another example of excellent efforts by our team members to work together toward responsible recycling and reuse efforts,” Comerford said, adding that the team had “great partnership and support” from the UF Office of Sustainability.

Media contact: Matt Walker, mwal0013@shands.ufl.edu or 352-265-8395