Inova Health System Marks Earth Day with Tree Plantings, Educational Fairs

Falls Church, VA – (April 29, 2010) – On Thursday, April 22, Inova Health System celebrated Earth Day at its hospitals with a variety of activities for employees and patients. Educational fairs and tree plantings with executive leaders were held at Inova Alexandria, Inova Fairfax, Inova Fair Oaks, Inova Loudoun and Inova Mount Vernon hospitals. Inova’s employee “Green Teams” gave away more than 3,000 native tree seedlings and collected hundreds of canned food items to donate to local food banks. Watch video of Earth Day activities.

Barbara Doyle, CEO, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, and her staff plant a tree in honor of Earth Day 2010.

At Inova Loudoun Hospital, employees are turning surgical blue wrap – the protective covering used to wrap sterilized instruments in the operating rooms – into tote bags.

Patients at Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children decorated flower pots and received seedlings to grow.

Check out additional photos on Inova’s Facebook page.

Last year Inova switched to using recycled content paper exclusively, saving 3,500 trees per year, and reduced its medical waste by 50,000 pounds. Also in 2009, Inova’s hospitals recycled 130 tons of commingled recyclables (paper, plastic, metal and glass) a month, which equates to saving three acres of standing forest.

Inova has made a commitment to pursue sustainable ways of approaching each aspect of its business – from new construction to monitoring the energy use, waste and recycling involved in day-to-day operations.

Inova is a charter member of Practice Greenhealth (the nation’s leading organization for healthcare institutions that have made a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly practices) and is a founding organization of the National Capital Region Sustainable Healthcare Alliance. Our hospitals won awards at CleanMed 2009, a global conference for healthcare’s environmental leaders.

Inova Health System is a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. Inova provides a healthy environment for its patients, families, visitors, staff and physicians by prohibiting tobacco use on its campuses.