PHOTO: Left to right: Robin Romanow and Sharon Allen from Memorial Medical Center’s (MMC) OR; Ascent representative Mark Milo; Debi Galko, Supply Chain, MMC; Gerald Ambrose, Supply Chain/Green Team, MMC; Jean Hansen, OR; and Pam Reckner, Supply Chain, MMC.
As part of a Conemaugh Health System-wide “green” initiative, Memorial Medical Center (MMC) has implemented many environmentally-friendly initiatives in an effort to reduce waste. One such initiative recently earned the facility recognition.
Ascent: A Stryker Sustainability Solution program, which is governed by the FDA, awarded MMC with the 2009 Healthy Hospital Award for reducing medical waste at the facility by 6,172 pounds in 2009 alone.
Stephen Tambolas, MPM, CPSM, CPM, Vice President, Supply Chain and Facilities, MMC, says the rewards of the program have been two-fold. “Reprocessing medical devices not only aids Memorial’s "green" initiative by reducing a significant amount of medical waste but also increases cost savings.”
By utilizing the program, in the past year Memorial has experienced $80,600 in supply cost savings which have been redirected to important key patient care initiatives.
Reprocessing involves cleaning, testing, packaging and sterilizing expensive medical devices, while remanufacturing includes disassembling, repairing and manufacturing devices that were originally marketed as “single use.” The reprocessing and remanufacturing of medical devices must be in accordance with strict FDA guidelines, and according to Ascent’s website, these processes prevent thousands of pounds of medical waste from hospitals around the country from ending up in landfills.
For more information about Ascent: A Stryker Sustainability Solution, visit their website at www.ascenths.com.
