HCA Healthcare earns 60 national awards for environmental sustainability efforts

Healthy communities are connected to healthy environments. As stewards of the environment, HCA Healthcare works hard to protect and preserve natural resources by greening hospital practices, promoting conservation and exercising environmentally conscious purchasing. As a result of these efforts, we are proud to announce that HCA Healthcare affiliate hospitals have earned 60 national Practice Greenhealth (PGH) Environmental Excellence Awards in 2020.

Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading resource for environmentally friendly practices in healthcare, recognizes healthcare facilities and health systems for their commitment to improving environmental performance while demonstrating sustainability efforts in the community.

“HCA Healthcare’s proactive approach to the health of our communities is strengthened by both superior, patient-centered care and raising the bar on environmental excellence,” said Anna Ward, director of sustainability at HCA Healthcare. “It’s a great honor for HCA Healthcare hospitals to earn 60 Practice Greenhealth awards this year, cementing our unwavering dedication to exemplary environmental practices. We will continue to drive our sustainability program forward, with the resilience that this time demands of us.”

HCA Healthcare works hard to protect our patients and colleagues by meeting and exceeding all environmental legal and regulatory standards. Our efforts to be environmentally friendly are led by task forces that examine operations in four areas: construction and major renovation, energy and water, waste stream and environmentally preferable purchasing.

As a result of the work of these task forces, we recycled more than 129 million pounds of construction waste and more than 31 million pounds of recycled cardboard, paper, aluminum, wood and rechargeable batteries in 2019. Last year, we also diverted more than one million pounds of devices from the landfill for reprocessing.

All these efforts and more have led to HCA Healthcare facilities across the nation earning recognition for environmental excellence by Practice Greenhealth in three categories: Partner for Change, Partner Recognition and Making Medicine Mercury Free.

Each award is a top standard of excellence in sustainability within healthcare and demonstrates how our facilities are creating healthier environments for patients, colleagues and communities.

The PGH award process allows applicants to share their insights with the healthcare sector in a broad range of categories and build stronger internal teams to continue their successes in sustainability.

Congratulations to the 2020 Environmental Excellence Award recipients:

Partner for Change Award

This award recognizes facilities whose applications demonstrate continuously improving sustainability programs to eliminate mercury, source products sustainably and reduce and recycle waste.

• Lee’s Summit Medical Center (Summit, MO)
• Parkland Medical Center (Derry, NH)

Making Medicine Mercury Free Award

Facilities winning this award submitted applications showing they have virtually eliminated the use of mercury and have measures in place to prevent future use of it. This award is a permanent award extending past the 2020 award season.

• Aventura Hospital and Medical Center (Aventura, FL)
• Brandon Regional Hospital (Brandon, FL)
• Cartersville Medical Center (Cartersville, GA)
• Central Florida Regional Hospital (Sanford, FL)
• Citrus Memorial Hospital (Inverness, FL)
• Englewood Community Hospital (Englewood, FL)
• Frankfort Regional Medical Center (Frankfort, KY)
• Grand Strand Medical Center (Myrtle Beach, SC)
• Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center (Panama City, FL)
• JFK Medical Center (Atlantis, FL)
• Johnston-Willis Hospital (Richmond, VA)
• Largo Medical Center (Largo, FL)
• Lee’s Summit Medical Center (Summit, MO)
• LewisGale Hospital Alleghany (Low Moor, VA)
• LewisGale Hospital Montgomery (Blacksburg, VA)
• LewisGale Hospital Pulaski (Pulaski, VA)
• LewisGale Medical Center (Salem, VA)
• Medical City Alliance (Fort Worth, TX)
• Medical City Arlington (Arlington, TX)
• Medical City Dallas (Dallas, TX)
• Medical City Las Colinas (Irving, TX)
• Medical City Lewisville (Lewisville, TX)
• Medical City McKinney (McKinney, TX)
• Memorial Hospital Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)
• Memorial Satilla Health (Waycross, GA)
• Menorah Medical Center (Overland Park, KS)
• Mercy Hospital (Miami, FL)
• Methodist and Methodist Children’s Hospitals (San Antonio, TX)
• Methodist Hospital Metropolitan (San Antonio, TX)
• Methodist Hospital Specialty & Transplant (San Antonio, TX)
• Methodist Hospital Stone Oak (San Antonio, TX)
• Methodist Hospital Texsan (San Antonio, TX)
• Mountain View Hospital (Payson, UT)
• North Florida Regional Medical Center (Gainesville, FL)
• Northwest Medical Center (Margate, FL)
• Ogden Regional Medical Center (Ogden, UT)
• Palms West Hospital (Loxahatchee, FL)
• Plantation General Hospital (Plantation, FL)
• Putnam Community Medical Center (Palatka, FL)
• Regional Medical Center (San Jose, CA)
• Reston Hospital Center (Reston, VA)
• South Bay Hospital (Tampa, FL)
• Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center (Las Vegas, NV)
• Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center (Fredericksburg, VA)
• Petersburg General Hospital (St. Petersburg, FL)
• StoneSprings Hospital Center (Dulles, VA)
• Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center (Las Vegas, NV)
• Trident Medical Center (Charleston, SC)
• TriStar Centennial Medical Center (Nashville, TN)
• TriStar Hendersonville Medical Center (Hendersonville, TN)
• TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center (Nashville, TN)
• TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center (Smyrna, TN)
• TriStar Summit Medical Center (Hermitage, TN)
• Valley Regional Medical Center (Brownsville, TX)
• West Hills Hospital & Medical Center (West Hills, CA)
• West Valley Medical Center (Caldwell, ID)

The 56 hospitals who won 2020 Making Medicine Mercury Free Awards join 18 other HCA Healthcare hospitals who have previously won the award, bringing the total number of HCA Healthcare facilities with this designation to 74.