Environmental
Nursing at Mid Coast Hospital
As all of us are becoming more aware of
our impact on the world around us, we are
also taking stock of our role in environmental
stewardship. Here at Mid Coast Hospital
one of our operating room nurses, Bettie
Kettell, RN, is on the forefront of the
hospital’s recycling and waste-reduction
efforts.
In her daily work in the OR, Bettie first
became aware of the volume of the materials
used in surgery. Sterile wraps for surgical
instruments and supplies were being discarded
every day. Even though some of the waste
was considered general waste and some hazardous,
Bettie felt that there had to be a way to
recycle the clean items that were then going
into the trash. After some initial investigation
of her ideas, Bettie presented her findings
on what could be recycled in the OR to the
hospital’s senior management. Thus
began her campaign to reduce, reuse and
recycle as much of the hospital’s
waste as possible.
Operating out of a small office in the
OR suite, Bettie devotes one day per week
to environmental issues affecting Mid Coast
Hospital. Through her efforts over the past
eight years, the hospital now disposes of
fifteen waste streams, all in the appropriate
manner. Recycling has grown significantly,
and includes numbers 1, 2 and 5 plastics,
paper, cardboard, old furniture, expired
linens, fluorescent bulbs, out-of-date computer
equipment, non-alkaline batteries, newspapers
and magazines. Even the kitchen grease has
been removed from the waste stream. It is
collected by the hospital’s biohazard
waste vender, Sterilogic, to be converted
to bio-fuel to power their trucks. All returnable
bottles and cans are redeemed through the
Food & Nutrition department. Bettie
also works with the Materials Management
Department and the Clinical Value Analysis
Committee to determine what new products
are safest for the hospital to use in meeting
the needs of both staff and patients.
Providing environmental awareness training
for nurses and staff at the hospital is
also part of Bettie’s mission. New
employees first meet Bettie during their
hospital-wide orientation. She conducts
educational events for April’s Earth
Day, and during Maine Recycles Week in November.
Her EICKY (Environmental Impact Committee)
News provides quarterly updates on the latest
environmental trends and notification of
environmental events taking place within
the hospital and in area communities. In
addition, Bettie provides education to various
hospital departments as requested.
Nurses form the core of Bettie‘s
Environmental Impact Committee, which is
open to all hospital employees. Together,
they have sponsored several Earth Day Fairs,
created a recycling
poster that is displayed in
all hospital departments, added books to
the hospital’s library, and created
the EICKY (pronounced “icky”)
Award that is given each month to the hospital
staff person who has done the most to promote
environmental stewardship in her/his department.
Looking ahead, Bettie hopes that one day
the hospital will have an organic garden
that will provide fresh vegetables and fruits
for hospital patients and staff, and compost
the paper products and the food waste generated
by the hospital’s food service.
“Environmental stewardship is vital
to our future as a hospital and a society.
I am proud of the efforts we make every
day to conserve energy and reduce our carbon
footprint. My goal here is to continually
reduce the percentage of the hospital waste
stream that goes into landfills and incinerators.
I hope we will eventually have a full time
sustainability department at the hospital
devoted to making Mid Coast a leader in
environmental stewardship in the community.”
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