Hackensack University Medical Center Receives NJBIA 2008 Award for Excellence in Environmental Quality

Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) has been awarded the 2008 Environmental Quality Award for Excellence by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA). The Environmental Quality Award is presented to companies that have done outstanding work to preserve or enhance the quality of the environment in New Jersey.

The NJBIA’s Awards for Excellence honor a select group of employers from among its 23,000 members for outstanding achievements in four categories: Environmental Quality, Job Creation, Outstanding Employer (human resource management), and Public Service.

HUMC received this prestigious award for its Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion, which was designed using the highest “green building” standards. In fact, it exceeds the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED), the industry standard for green building. This standard encompasses energy efficiency, green building materials, indoor air quality, and waste minimization and disposal.

HUMC avoids using harmful chemicals wherever possible; its flooring and wall coverings are PVC-free; cabinets are made with wheat board instead of formaldehyde-laden particleboard; and the flooring is made of rubber instead of vinyl. In fact, even the cleaning products are green – the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion avoids toxic cleansers by using “Greening the Cleaning” products developed by HUMC’s own Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology. All of these efforts led to the Pavilion’s inclusion on the 2006 Green Guide’s list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S.

“Hackensack University Medical Center strives to set a national standard for environmentally sound hospitals,” said Erin Speiser Ihde, research/project manager for the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at HUMC. “We are honored to receive this award as it highlights these efforts and brings attention to the important initiative of going green.”

Also in line with the green initiative is the construction of the new John Theurer Cancer Center, currently underway, with an expected completion date of fall 2010. This 155,000-square-foot-facility, complete with a rooftop garden, will keep with its commitment to green and sustainable buildings; it will follow guidelines outlined by LEED and developed by the U. S. Green Building Council, just as the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion did.

Deirdre Imus is the founder and president of the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology® (www.dienviro.com), part of HUMC, a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. The Environmental Center represents one of the first hospital-based programs whose specific mission is to identify, control, and ultimately prevent exposures to environmental factors that may cause adult, and especially pediatric cancer, as well as other health problems with our children.

Ms. Imus is also co-founder and co-director of the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer, an authentic 4,000 acre working cattle ranch in northern New Mexico, which provides the experience of the American cowboy to children suffering from cancer and various blood diseases, as well as to children who have lost a brother or sister to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

About Hackensack University Medical Center
HealthGrades® named HUMC as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2007 and 2008. This designation recognizes hospitals that have demonstrated superior clinical quality over a seven-year time period, based upon an analysis of more than 75 million Medicare patient records from 1999-2006. These hospitals have achieved better survival rates and lower complication rates across dozens of medical procedures and diagnoses, from cardiac care to orthopedic surgery, consistently ranking among the top five percent in the nation for overall clinical outcomes. HUMC is the only healthcare facility in New Jersey, New York, and New England to be named one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals, for two years in a row. For more information, please visit the medical center’s website at www.humc.com.

Photo Cap:
Erin Speiser Ihde, of Bloomfield, research/project manager for the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), accepts the award given to HUMC for Excellence in Environmental Quality from Phillip Kirschner (left), president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), and Doug Kuiken (right), chairman of the board at the NJBIA.