Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center Brings National Effort to Improve Health and Reduce Costs to Red Bank

Riverview Medical Center joins the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and pledges to implement sustainability in key areas

Red Bank, NJNovember 6, 2017 – As research increasingly links environmental factors with chronic disease, Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center has enrolled in the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), a national campaign that supports hospitals in accelerating the greening of health care and reducing environmental impact. The initiative helps hospitals adopt sustainability efforts that will promote the health and well-being of patients, team members, and members of the community.

“By creating healthier environments for patients, team members and visitors, we are taking an important step in achieving the best outcomes for our patients and supporting community health,” said Kelli O’Brien, chief operating officer at Riverview Medical Center. “Specific changes in the ways we operate will lay the groundwork for better health – inside and outside our hospital walls. With the support we’ve received from HHI, we can quickly adopt proven practices and generate cost savings that allow us to devote more resources to do what we do best: provide top-notch medical care.”

HHI provides the nation’s hospitals with free, step-by-step implementation guides that help hospitals such as Riverview Medical Center choose from six key challenges: 

  • Engaged Leadership
  • Healthier Food
  • Leaner Energy
  • Less Waste
  • Safe Chemicals
  • Smarter Purchasing

To date, Riverview Medical Center has committed to the following challenges: creating engaged leadership, providing healthier food options, reducing waste and using safer chemicals within the hospital. The medical center is also in the final stages of completing a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption through conservation measures that were implemented in partnership with the NJ Clean Energy Program.

“Riverview Medical Center is showing visionary leadership,” says John Messervy, AIA, chair of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative. “Like we have seen with other hospitals that have implemented these programs, we expect Riverview Medical Center will see ongoing cost savings and achieve a healing environment that is more conducive to public health.”

In addition to the practices adopted through their enrollment with HHI, Riverview Medical Center had previously incorporated other sustainability initiatives such as promoting recycling, and developing a targeted approach to hospital structure and the impact on the environment. As a result, Riverview Medical Center recently completed a flood mitigation project, relocated oxygen tanks, and incorporated a bulk head in order to safeguard its ability to care for the public in times of need. The medical center has also partnered with Clean Ocean Action, a not-for-profit with the goal of improving the degraded water quality of the marine waters off the New Jersey and New York coast. In addition, Riverview Medical Center recently joined NJ Frames Advisory group, a regional and collaborative effort in coastal Monmouth County, NJ that seeks to understand and address flood vulnerability in the region.

Like other hospitals enrolled with HHI, Riverview Medical Center will track progress and share data to measure the impact of the project. A current list of health systems participating in the Initiative can be found on HHI’s website at www.healthierhospitals.org.

 

About Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center

Riverview Medical Center is a 492-bed not-for-profit community hospital located on the Navesink River in Red Bank, New Jersey. Riverview Medical Center provides health care programs and services in all major medical disciplines including: maternity, surgical services, emergency and critical cancer services. Riverview’s Cancer Care Center offers comprehensive cancer services close to home, while Riverview’s Jane H. Booker Women and Children’s Center combines expertise and convenience to address preventative health, diagnosis, treatment, and support for women of all ages. Riverview Rehabilitation Center is Monmouth County’s only fully-accredited inpatient rehabilitation facility, and Riverview Medical Center is a designated Primary Stroke Center and has also maintained prestigious Magnet designation for Nursing Excellence since 1998. Riverview Medical Center is the only hospital in the region with the groundbreaking CyberKnife® system, offering new hope for patients with inaccessible or inoperable tumors. For more information about Riverview Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Health, please call 1-800-DOCTORS or visit www.riverviewmedicalcenter.com.

 

About the Healthier Hospitals Initiative

The Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) is a national campaign to implement a completely new approach to improving environmental health and sustainability in the health care sector. Thirteen of the most influential U.S. health systems, comprising approximately 500 hospitals with more than $20 billion in purchasing power, worked with Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), the Center for Health Design and Practice Greenhealth to create HHI as a guide for hospitals to improve sustainability in six key areas: Engaged Leadership, Healthier Foods, Leaner Energy, Less Waste, Safer Chemicals, and Smarter Purchasing. Sponsoring health systems include Advocate Health Care, Bon Secours Health System, Catholic Health Initiatives, Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West), Gundersen Health System, Hospital Corporation of America, Inova Health System, Kaiser Permanente, MedStar Health, Partners HealthCare, Stanford University Medical Center, Tenet Health Systems and Vanguard Health Systems. More information is available at www.healthierhospitals.org. Follow HHI on Twitter at @HHIorg and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/healthierhospitalsinitiative.

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