While the health system has received similar honors before, UC Davis Health for the first time was named one of the Top 25 hospitals in the country.
UC Davis Health received Practice Greenhealth’s highest honor for hospitals.
This is the highest honor awarded by Practice Greenhealth, which is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care. More than 1,400 U.S. hospitals and health care systems are part of the Practice Greenhealth network.
The Top 25 Hospitals award is based on a rigorous scoring system and looks at the hospital’s success in a range of sustainability programs, including leadership, greening the operating room, sustainable procurement, green building, energy, water, climate and transportation.
“UC Davis Health is strongly committed to our environment, and sustainable health care must be part of that global effort,” said David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health and vice chancellor for Human Health Sciences. “By joining Practice Greenhealth, we strengthened our position as a socially responsible organization, creating a healthy environment for patients, staff and community. Among our many achievements, we’ve improved environmental performance as one of the top 25 hospitals in the nation, continued our efforts related to surgeries and anesthesia by reducing unnecessary waste, and expanded already nationally noteworthy sustainable, local food procurement to our patients and employees.”
UC Davis Health was honored again with the Greening the OR Recognition Award. This recognition is designated for hospitals that have made strides in improving environmental performance in the operating room.
In addition, UC Davis Health received six designations in the Circles of Excellence, which honors up to 10 of the highest performing hospitals nationwide in various areas of sustainability. The six areas in which UC Davis Health was recognized this year are food, sustainable procurement, water, transportation, climate and green building.
Highlights of the sustainable food program include more plant-based ingredients, more local and sustainable food sources, better tap water access, more healthful beverages and better food waste prevention. UC Davis Health is on track to meet its 2030 sustainable food purchasing goal.
Sarah Janus, a sustainability officer at UC Davis Health, applauded the Practice Greenhealth honors and the individual departments that helped to make them happen.
“Sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle. Being presented with these awards highlights how much good is being done all together,” said Janus. “We are so lucky to have such a dedicated, multifaceted and innovative team. This is quite an honor to be recognized for our commitment to sustainability in health care.”
