Making Mammography Greener

Earth Day is soon approaching. On April 22, people from all over our great planet will come together celebrating our earth and promoting positive changes that we all can make that will help our environment.

Like most people, I have made a few changes in my personal life that I hope will have a positive impact on the environment. Many of these changes are money savers too, and we all know that the cost of energy is not getting any cheaper.

I've also started thinking about where I work and possible changes that could be implemented there that might make a difference.

About six months ago, our department was issued a challenge to try to save money in some way in regards to ordering supplies. Like most departments, we usually run quite lean and really don't order a huge amount of supplies to begin with. As we were all brainstorming this challenge, someone noted that we were all drinking our coffee out of styrofoam cups.

Although it may seem like a very small change to some, we decided that we would stop ordering Styrofoam cups and we would all bring in a coffee mug from home. At first, a few people needed reminding, but eventually all of us now have our own mugs that we use everyday.

Although I am sure that this small change will not make a huge impact on the bottom line of the hospital, it is one change that will also help the environment. This change made me think of other changes we could make that would have a positive impact on our environment.

Most of us already recycle magazines from home and bring them in for our waiting room; these magazines tend to be a little more interesting than the normal ones! The hospital started a program a few years ago to recycle all paper products, so we don't produce a lot of paper waste anymore.

With all of our incredibly sensitive mammography equipment, we are not able to adjust our thermostats by very much. Turning out the lights in the rooms at the end of the working day is another small step. What type of changes has you or your workplace put into affect that could be viewed as green?  It would sure be interesting to hear some of the great ideas that others have thought of and it may be a source of inspiration for many others.