'The Business of Health Care Report'

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I’m Doug Hawthorne, CEO of Texas Health Resources, with “The Business of Health Care Report.”

Texas Health is fulfilling part of our responsibility to be good stewards of our resources by following the recycling slogan “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”

For example, the “Go Green” initiative at Texas Health Dallas recently earned a national CleanZone Level 1 certification for various recycling and environmentally-friendly initiatives. One of the initiatives is cardboard baling, which saves up to 70 tons of cardboard a year. That’s 1,500 trees, half-a-million gallons of water, and 300,000 kilowatt hours of electricity saved by just one program.

At Texas Health HEB, the “Green Team” recycled more than 43 tons of paper, plastic and cardboard. They also donated 1,200 cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers.

Texas Health Arlington Memorial is part of the City of Arlington’s “Green Team,” a sustainability program for Arlington businesses. This year they received The Partner for Change award from Practice Greenhealth, which recognizes health care institutions that recycle at least 10 percent of their total waste.

Since 2002, Texas Health Fort Worth has reduced its overall waste by 50 percent, reduced regulated medical waste by an average of 10 percent, and reduced energy consumption by five percent.

We’re proud of the efforts our hospitals are making to reduce, reuse and recycle.

For our faith-based family of hospitals — Texas Health Presbyterian, Texas Health Harris Methodist and Texas Health Arlington Memorial — I’m Doug Hawthorne.