Earth Day is April 22
Go Green at Home – It's Healthy!

Interested in reducing your toxic exposures?
Dr. Henri Roca, medical director of our Center for Integrative Medicine, offers the following tips. He also will be speaking on toxins and food and mold sensitivities during special events in March and April.

1. If you live in an old house, use a water filter if you drink tap water.
2. Use biodegradable detergents and cleaners. Products based on essential oils are best.
3. Avoid sleeping in rooms with electromagnetic devices and blue LED lights. These can impact sleep cycles.
4. Eat organic food. Wash all fruits and vegetables well.
5. Do not smoke. Toxins in cigarette papers can lead to heavy metal issues.
6. Avoid exercising near highways or in highly polluted urban areas.
7. Switch your water bottle to stainless steel.
8. Keep your basement clean, dry and well ventilated.
9. Do not use any pesticide, herbicide or fungicide around pregnant women. Try to control pests with essential oils.
10. Keep a bright disposition and surround yourself with happy people. Emotional toxins can affect your health, too.

The Center for Integrative Medicine has an Environmental Medicine program to evaluate and help reduce toxin exposures (including from electromagnetic devices). It also addresses concerns regarding molds and food borne illnesses. For information, call 203-863-3615.

If you've ever thought about making your lifestyle more eco-friendly, you know how many decisions that entails. Can you stretch your food budget to buy organic? Will you trade in your car for a hybrid? Imagine then, the challenges of a hospital going green.

“Being an engineer and facility manager puts you on the front line of decision making for facility systems and materials,” says Steve Carbery, the hospital's vice president of facilities, design and construction. Carbery spearheaded efforts to design, build and operate Greenwich Hospital as a green facility, working with his team to boost the hospital's federal Energy Star rating and follow guidelines established by the United States Green Buildings Council.

“We've always been a value-driven organization, and doing what's right for the environment is one of our core values,” he explains. “Our choices have a health impact at so many levels: on patients, employees, and ultimately, the planet itself."

Thinking green, from demolition to construction
Green choices are complex. They affect everything from sorting demolition debris for recycling, to choosing renewable building materials and green medical technology. For example, the hospital's new operating room lights use LED (light emitting diode) technology, which consumes less electricity and emits less heat. It reduces air conditioning costs and keeps surgical teams cooler, too.

The hospital's most recent green construction can be seen at the new Ambulatory Surgery Center at 55 Holly Hill Lane. Rather than break ground on a new space, the hospital built within an existing facility and renovated according to green standards – as it has done with its entire campus.“Recycling an existing location, known as a “brownfield” site, is the first step in green thinking,” says Carbery.

Thinking green also led to the creation of the hospital's Carl and Dorothy Bennett Community Garden. The two-acre expanse of open space, trees, and flower beds also offers a bluestone terrace and restored fountain for the enjoyment of patients and visitors. The installation of two new bike racks further accommodates those who wish to use pedal power to get to and from the hospital.

Double duty technology
Another way to reduce the carbon footprint is by getting two uses out of one fuel source. When the hospital runs clean-burning natural gas through its turbines, for example, it generates electricity and heats water, too. In these ways and more, the hospital functions efficiently while creating a healthier environment. What's ahead? “We're replacing some hospital vehicles with hybrids, expanding our recycling programs, and looking into alternate power sources including solar and wind,” says Carbery. “There's always room for improvement.”

"We're replacing some hospital vehicles with hybrids, expanding recycling programs, and looking into alternate power sources, including solar and wind..."

Reducing the carbon footprint
The hospital recycles, renews and conserves in a variety of additional ways:

• Dropping yearly water use by 2.5 million gallons with low-flow plumbing fixtures
• Using fuel-efficient technology for annual savings of 1.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 114,000 gallons of oil; cutting yearly carbon dioxide emissions by 1.9 million pounds
• Incorporating atriums and skylights to take advantage of natural daylight
• Eliminating toxic materials from buildings and medical supplies
• Using green cleaning products to improve indoor air quality