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Applying for an H2E
Environmental Excellence Award
DEADLINES |
- Applications for the Making Medicine Mercury Free Award are accepted year round.
- All other applications must be received both by post and electronic mail no later than February 14, 2007.
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 What You Need to Know to Apply
2007 H2E Awards Schedule
Award Categories and Criteria
Award Applications
What You Need to Know to Apply
You must be an H2E Partner and have a subscription to the H2E program to receive an award.
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- All award decisions will be made based on the merits of the information provided in the award application.
- Making Medicine Mercury Free applications are accepted any time. All other applications must be received by post and electronic mail no later than February 14, 2007 at the address listed on each application. Incomplete or late award applications will not be considered for this award cycle. No supplemental materials will be allowed after February 14, 2007 .
- All award applications become the property of H2E—they will not be returned.
- Applicants must be in compliance with all pertinent OSHA and EPA regulations. Facilities that are in violation will not be considered. See Understanding your Compliance History for tips.
- If this is your first time applying for an award, you may receive credit for the work you've done since the H2E program's inception in 1998. If you've applied and received an award before, please only include the work you've done since your last award application. H2E is looking for ongoing improvements.
- If you are using corporate health system policies, please describe what those policies are and how they are being implemented specifically in your facility .
- Please limit your supporting documentation to no more than 15 pages. Contact the H2E office at 603-795-9966 should you need to exceed the 15 page limit (more is not necessarily better).
What Supporting Documentation Do You Need?
- In the application, there are specific references to required supporting documentation. If the application does not include this required documentation, it will not be considered for an award.
- Supporting documentation refers to sample policies, training programs, tracking forms, and other information that could serve as a model for other Partners.
- We discourage the use of electronic presentations and meeting minutes as supporting documentation.
How to Submit the Completed Application:
- Email an MS Word copy of the application by February 14, 2007 to
H2E Awards with as many of the supporting documents as possible in an electronic format. The H2E Awards Coordinator will reply to this e-mail to confirm receipt of your application.
- Also submit by mail 3 copies of your application with all supporting documentation to the following address:
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment
Attn: Awards Coordinator
P.O. Box 376 | One Lyme Common
Lyme , NH 03768
Ph: 603-795-9966
What’s Next?
- Award applications will be reviewed by the H2E Awards Committee comprised of representatives from AHA, EPA, ANA, and HCWH, as well as other health care professionals and technical assistance providers.
- You will be notified of your award status by e-mail by March 30, 2007 , but you cannot announce it to the public or the media until May 11, 2007 , in order to gain maximum exposure around the awards ceremony date.
- You will get an Award Announcement Packet in the mail that will include:
- A letter to your CEO and others you have identified.
- An announcement of the upcoming awards ceremony so you can make travel plans
- Sample press releases and tips on how to get press for your award
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2007 H2E Awards Schedule
| Accepted Year Round |
Making Medicine Mercury Free Award Applications |
Jan 1, 2007 -
Feb 14, 2007 |
Accepting all awards applications. Applications must be received by February 14, 2007 to be reviewed |
| Mar 30, 2007 |
Award announced to winners |
| May 11, 2007 |
Press embargo lifted. Announce award winners to media |
| May 14 - 15, 2007 |
H2E Awards Luncheon ceremony and workshops - Marriott Minneapolis |
| 2007 |
Mercury Awards: rolling recognition throughout the year |
| Aug 2007 |
Awards announcement at the AHRMM Annual Meeting |
| Sep 2007 |
Awards announcement at the ASHES Annual Meeting |
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The Partners for Change application is comprehensive, meant to cover virtually every aspect of a hospital's environmental initiatives. BUT, we recognize that your facility won't necessarily have significant changes in all areas every year so use the sections of the application as a guide to report on your achievements. H2E’s aim is to celebrate the work of facilities that are making steady, sustainable progress on their long-term commitments. You MUST be a health care facility to receive this award.
Specifically, to receive the Partners for Change Award, your facility must have at least achieved the following:
- Implemented a source Reduction, Reuse, and/or Recycling program whereby at least 10% of total waste has been recycled, reduced, or reused.
- Implemented plans/programs at some level in the following areas:
- mercury elimination program
- waste management plan that includes waste reduction policies and recycling programs
- regulated medical waste reduction and management program
- hazardous chemical minimization programs
- “environmentally preferable purchasing” of products and services
- green building and resource conservation issues like energy efficiency, water conservation and integrated operations and maintenance.
Download the PFC Application
Right-click link, Save Target As...
 H2E Partners for Change Award Application
Microsoft Word 98 or higher format.
If you have trouble downloading the application, please see the Downloading Instructions.
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Partner Recognition Award
H2E Partner recognition is awarded to facilities that have made some amount of measurable progress in improving environmental performance. H2E wants to recognize the time and effort your facility has put into its environmental programs, even if your facility is just beginning to assess and improve its environmental programs. If you don’t feel ready to tackle the Partner for Change Award criteria, H2E encourages you to apply for Partner Recognition. You MUST be a health care facility to get Partner Recognition.
- Applicants should be H2E Partners, have initiated environmental programs and be able to show some progress toward their H2E goals.
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Making Medicine Mercury Free Award
The MMMF award is a one-time award given at any time during the year to facilities that have made the significant and noteworthy step of becoming virtually "mercury free." You MUST be a health care facility to receive this award. To qualify for the Making Medicine Mercury Free Award, your facility must have achieved the following:
- Established a facility policy statement
- Established a mercury management policy that includes protocols for safe handling, mercury spill clean up procedures, disposal procedures, education and training of employees about facility protocols, and a process to regularly review mercury use reduction and elimination progress
- Implemented a mercury-free purchasing policy statement
- Replaced patient mercury thermometers
- Replaced all or majority (75%) of sphygmomanometers and have a replacement plan and phase out timeline in place for total elimination
- Replaced majority (75%) of clinical devices (bougies, miller-abbott tubes, dilators, etc), inventoried those remaining and have a plan in place to substitute non-mercury devices
- Implemented program to recycle fluorescent lamps
- Implemented a battery recycling program
- Inventoried and permanently labeled all mercury-containing facility devices (switches, thermostats, etc) and have a plan in place to substitute non-mercury devices
- Replaced B5 fixative and Zenkers stains in the lab with non-mercury substitutes
- Inventoried mercury-containing lab chemicals with plan in place for substitution
- Inventoried all lab thermometers - replaced at least 75% with total phase-out plan in place
- Installed amalgam separators for all onsite dental chairs.
H2E is committed to helping EVERY health care facility achieve Making Medicine Mercury Free status. H2E holds a special monthly teleconference that walks you through the steps necessary to apply for and win a Making Medicine Mercury Free (MMMF) Award. To participate in the next MMMF teleconference, see H2E’s Teleconference Calendar. |
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Environmental Leadership Award
In addition to the criteria used in the H2E Partners for Change Award, H2E Environmental Leaders distinguish themselves by fulfilling not only the criteria for the Partners for Change and Making Medicine Mercury Free awards but also for implementing innovative programs that set industry standards for waste reduction and pollution prevention. You MUST be a health care facility to win this award. Applicants should meet the following criteria:
- Implemented a source R eduction, R euse, and/or R ecycling program whereby at least 25% of total waste has been recycled, reduced or reused.
- Meet the Making Medicine Mercury Free award criteria.
- Implemented a waste management plan that includes a waste reduction and pollution prevention policy.
- Implemented a comprehensive and sustainable regulated medical waste reduction and management program.
- Implemented an “environmentally preferable purchasing” program for products and/or services.
- Implemented green building initiatives addressing issues like energy efficiency, water conservation and integrated operations and maintenance.
- Institutionalized long-term, sustainable environmental programs that can serve as model practices for the industry.
- Implemented innovative programs, techniques, processes and policies that increase environmental performance. Efforts might include collaboration with the community, educational programs and cost accounting.
Note: There is no longer a separate application for the Environmental Leadership Award (ELA). If your facility is interested in winning the ELA, simply fill out the Partners for Change Award application and be sure to indicate in the application how your facility meets the criteria indicated above. ELA winners will be chosen based upon the best applications received for the Partners for Change Award and upon meeting the criteria noted above. NOTE: ELA winners must meet all the criteria listed above to be considered. |
Champions for Change Award
Organizational Partners can be recognized for their efforts through the Champion for Change Award. This award, which may be received annually, is for those Organizational Partners who can demonstrate successful accomplishment in ‘greening’ their own organization and who have assisted their associated health care facility clients/ members/customers to improve their environmental performance. This award is for Organizational Partners ONLY – not for individual health care facilities
In determining whether you qualify for “Champion for Change” status, H2E asks that you report on your achievements in the following areas:
- Implementation of environmental programs addressing mercury, waste, toxics use reduction and other environmental issues in your own or others’ operations;
- Implementation of educational outreach programs on environmental issues and improvement efforts for hospitals who are your customers/clients/affiliates;
- Successful recruitment of hospitals to join H2E and commit to environmental initiatives;
- Establishment or maintenance of recycling, waste minimization, and pollution prevention programs within your own organization, preferably with documented results in waste avoided, costs saved, and reduction in environmental impacts.
Accomplishments should be supported by concrete documentation – policy documents signed by principals of the organization, data from waste or mercury elimination surveys, reporting on trends in environmentally preferable purchasing and so forth.
Successful applicants may demonstrate significant success in one or more targeted areas (with some progress in the others), or can show improvements in many areas.
Download the CFC Application
Right-click link, Save Target As...
H2E Champion for Change Award Application
Microsoft Word 98 or higher format.
If you have trouble downloading the application, please see the Downloading Instructions.
Award Applications
If you are already familiar with the criteria for each award, you can download all of the applications from this section.
To do so, right click on the application title and choose "Save Target As". If you have any trouble working with the application, review the downloading instructions.
H2E Partners for Change Award Application
H2E Partner Recognition Application
H2E Making Medicine Mercury Free Award Application
H2E Champion for Change Award Application
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