Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/1284536
• Alternate use for bubble wrap. When cataract supplies come packaged in bubble wrap, the wrap is saved and given to the pharmacy department, which uses it to mail out medications. From eliminating and reducing anesthetic gases to installing LED lighting and motion sen- sors in order to cut down on energy consump- tion to separating and recycling surgical sup- plies, there are a slew of additional environmen- tally friendly actions the facility puts into prac- tice each day. As Ms. Wessel says, "Our entire staff has taken the recycle, repurpose, reuse mantra to heart." OSM 4 4 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0 HONORABLE MENTION COVID-Inspired Response to Clean Waste What do you get when you combine egregious OR waste with a pandemic-fueled national shortage of critical PPE? If you're Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital's OR nursing staff, you get a golden opportunity to let your creativity shine. Back in March, nurses transformed blue sterile wrap into masks and shoe covers — items that were being depleted at a rapid rate. "We're lucky enough to have a strong team of creative nurses who have the time to repurpose these items into beautiful and useful items," says Jacki Blaber, RN, a nurse on the front lines of the facility's environmental efforts. Once the OR team's creativity was piqued, they found many additional uses for clean- waste items from the OR that were in short- supply in the early stages of the pandemic, including homemade bags/grocery bags, batter- ies, drapes for home projects, rags for cleaning, basins for storage/organization and more. For Greenwich Hospital, a facility that already had a green culture and a robust recycling program in place long before the pandemic, the COVID- inspired response to OR waste was welcomed with open arms. "The program was supported by so many," says Doris Dubail, RN, who has been instrumen- tal in the facility's environmental efforts. "The surgeons and anesthesia team, as well as staff members, were excited to see these clean prod- ucts put to good use." Ms. Dubail calls Greenwich Hospital's creative approach to a multi-pronged and timely green problem "our greatest adventure." — Jared Bilski WORKS OF ART When the pandemic left Greenwich Hospital with a shortage of PPE, OR staff used blue sterile wrap to make an assortment of beautiful homemade masks. Greenwich Hospital TEAM GREEN (left to right) Maureen Koepp, CST; Mark Johnson, CST; Brenda Schoenberg, RN; Jody Wessel, CST; Chelsie Meemken, RN; Sherry Gillitzer; and Amy Guzy, CST. The Ambulatory Surgical Center at St. Cloud (Minn.) VA Health Care System. ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP