Packard Children’s Wins National Award for Connecting Food, Climate and Health

Packard Children’s Wins National Award for Connecting Food, Climate and Health

Lucile Packard Children’s HospitalRobert Dicks, 650-497-8364

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford has been honored with the “Food, Climate, Health Connection Award” from the Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) program. The award is one of four Sustainable Food Awards given this year to recognize significant achievement as well as leadership in health care food service.

The Food, Climate, Health Connection Award recognizes facilities which are taking significant steps toward reducing their climate footprint. By serving foods that are produced and distributed in ways that reduce resource and energy consumption as well as taking other operational steps, health care food service operations can play an influential role in decreasing the food system impacts on climate change. Applicants areawarded points based on levels of achievement in the following areas: reduction of the amount of meat and poultry purchased; prioritizing purchase of food and beverages that are produced without use of fossil-fuel based fertilizers and pesticides; waste prevention, donation and composting; and energy and water conservation.

“It is increasingly important that the world recognize the link between our food system, climate change and human health, and take steps to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Gary Cohen, president and founder, Health Care Without Harm. “Packard Children’s has demonstrated an overall excellence in understanding this connection, and is engaging their hospitals food service department as part of the solution.”

The hospital was recognized for the following activities:

- Prioritized “total cost of ownership” and “energy/water efficiency” instead of lowest initial purchase price

- Supported the purchase of Energy Star and/or WaterSense rated commercial foodservice - equipment

- Replaced all pre-rinse spray valves with low-flow alternatives

- Implemented demand-control ventilation systems

- Trained staff to turn appliances off when not in use

- Purchased energy-efficient light bulbs for cafeteria and non-public cafeteria areas.

“On behalf of everyone at Packard Children’s Hospital, we are thrilled to receive this recognition from Health Care Without Harm and the Healthy Food in Health Care program,” said Thomas Robinson, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Healthy Weight. “It’s an award that acknowledges years of effort, innovation and achievements by our Healthy Hospital team along with the tremendous support of our Hospital leaders and all of the staff at Packard Children's. Together, we are proud to commit our hospital to promote healthy nutrition for our patients, our staff, our community and our planet, and we look forward to even more success in the future.”

The Food, Climate, and Health Connection Award is being presented at CleanMed 2013, April 24-26 in Boston, MA.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is an internationally recognized 311-bed hospital, research center and leading regional medical network providing a full complement of services for the health of children and expectant mothers. In partnership with the Stanford University School of Medicine, our world-class doctors and nurses deliver innovative, family-centered care in every pediatric and obstetric specialty. Packard Children’s is annually ranked as one of the nation’s finest by and the only Northern California children’s hospital with specialty programs ranked in the Top 10. Learn more about the Packard Children’s Health Alliance at ; explore our hospital expansion at ; and find our full range of preeminent programs at . Like us on , watch us on and follow us on .

Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on HCWH, see . HCWH’s Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) Program works with hospitals across the country to help improve the sustainability of their food services. .