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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center was honored with an "Environmental Excellence Award" in recognition of its sustainable practices and efforts to improve the environment — including recycling, composting and energy efficiency.

The award was presented by Practice Greenhealth — a member organization dedicated to sustainability in health care — at the sixth annual CleanMed conference in Chicago on May 19. That same day, representatives from the Hospital made a presentation at the conference on the intersection of sustainability and patient-centered care.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, one of the Hospital's five campuses, was the pilot site for various environmental initiatives, including comprehensive recycling and composting, that have subsequently been implemented organization-wide.

"Hospitals and other health-care organizations have a special reason to support sustainability. Protecting and improving our environment has a direct benefit for the health of our communities," says Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "We are delighted to be recognized by Practice Greenhealth for our longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship."

Representatives from NewYork-Presbyterian recently participated in a panel discussion on business's role in sustainability at the March 23 "Greener New York Summit" sponsored by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Earlier this year, the Hospital led an online seminar organized by Practice Greenhealth that offered tips on launching a successful composting program at a hospital.

NewYork-Presbyterian is a dues-paying member of Practice Greenhealth.

Sustainability at NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian's environmental initiative — NYPgreen — has supported and spearheaded a variety of improvements, including a switch to environmentally-friendly cleaning products, recycling, composting, use of hybrid vehicles, construction of building certified to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and sustainable procurement practices. The Hospital has eliminated all mercury devices from its inpatient areas and has drastically reduced the use of products containing the chemicals glutaraldehyde and ethylene oxide. NewYork-Presbyterian is currently participating in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sustainability initiative called PlaNYC Challenge, pledging to decrease carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2018. The Hospital is a four-time winner of the Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR award — the only hospital in the nation to be honored this many times.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,242 beds. The Hospital has nearly 2 million inpatient and outpatient visits in a year, including more than 230,000 visits to its emergency departments — more than any other area hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/The Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.