 Since 2001, the Oregon Center for Environmental Health has served as the regional coordinator for the Health Care Without Harm Campaign (HCWH) , an international coalition of over 440 organizations in more than 50 countries.
HCWH’s mission is to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment.
Campaign Goals
1. Create markets and policies for safer products, materials and chemicals in health care. Promote safer substitutes, including products that avoid mercury, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and brominated flame retardants.
2. Eliminate incineration of medical waste, minimize the amount and toxicity of all waste generated and promote safer waste treatment practices.
3. Transform the design, construction and operations of health care facilities to minimize environmental impacts and foster healthy, healing environments.
4. Encourage food purchasing systems that support sustainable food production and distribution, and provide healthy food on-site at health care facilities.
5. Secure a safe and healthy workplace for all health care workers.
6. Ensure patients, workers and communities have full access to information about chemicals used in health care and can participate in decisions about exposures to chemicals.
7. Promote human rights and environmental justice for communities impacted by the health care sector, while assuring that problems are not displaced from one community or country to another.
Oregon
In Oregon, the program has been successful in implementing a wide range of pollution prevention and sustainability initiatives including: virtually eliminating mercury in the hospital setting by promoting safer alternatives, developing recycling programs for urban and rural hospitals, replacing chlorinated plastic medical devices with safer alternatives, and engaging over 25 hospitals as partners of Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), a national movement for environmental sustainability in health care.
Our current Oregon work with hospitals is focused on:
- sustainable foods
- electronic waste
- PVC reduction
Visit the What's New page for details.
2007-2008 HCWH Program Priority Areas
Over the next year the Oregon HCWH campaign will focus on the following priority areas:
1. The Healthy Food in Healthcare initiative aims to create a significant shift in the cycle of food production by leveraging the purchasing power of healthcare to support local and regional markets for healthier and more ecologically-friendly food. Visit our Healthy Food for a Healthy Environment page for more information.
2. The Oregon Hospitals for a Healthy Environment Electronics Pilot seeks to model the use of environmentally preferable procurement tools for electronic purchasing and implement electronic waste management procedures that meet environmental standards for responsible reuse and recycling.
3. The Alternatives to PVC use in Healthcare Operations, Design and Construction project seeks to educate healthcare and building professionals on available PVC alternatives for two specific applications: medical devices and interior flooring, and promote the adoption of purchasing policies which preference these products.
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