SKH Clean and Green Day 2019
The SKH Clean and Green Day sets out to emphasise environmental consciousness and green practices as an integral part of everyday life. As you know, healthcare in general and hospitals, in particular, are extremely energy-intensive, with substantial energy used day and night. Clinical care processes are highly dependent on electronic monitoring systems, intervention equipment, and medical records for documentation and communication. Consequently, there are tremendous needs for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, which are all energy-intensive elements of a hospital. And that's why we urge our staff, in their roles as a nurse, clinicians, pharmacist, or other professionals to be involved in decision making related to environmental impacts of their practice. We have seen some ground-up initiatives which have been heartening.
• In 2019 alone, SKH has collected 69,727kg of recyclables!
• SKH has been optimising the operation of the air-conditioning system and lightings. To date, SKH has achieved an energy saving of approximately 497,000 kWh per year. That adds up to about a reduction of 208 tons of Co2 emission, or equivalent to, 5,300 trees!
• Our disposable scrub brushes used in Operating Theatres are given a new lease of life. Staff can pick them and use them for cleaning around the house or their car tyres!
• Our staff diligently bring along their lunchboxes and mugs to our town halls, seminars and other in-house events.
Well, the list continues. But besides just engaging our staff, we also want to reach out to the community to lead an environmentally conscious lifestyle. Embracing the 𝟱𝗥𝘀 - 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲, 𝗥𝗲𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿, 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 - the wide array of activities at the SKH Clean and Green Day showcased the strong collective, ground-up efforts of all who came and participated. Through fun, colourful interactive displays, hands-on workshops using recyclable materials, our staff and residents, along with their kids, picked up easy-to-adopt tips on how to lead a clean, green and sustainable lifestyle. We were glad to have the support of Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport and Grassroots Advisor to Sengkang West GROs. He spent time to learn more about our ‘Go Green’ efforts. He shared that as a small city-state with no natural resources, we need to continue to put sustainability at the centre of everything we do. He encouraged all Singaporeans to play their part by adopting more sustainable lifestyles.
All of us have a part to play in building a liveable and endearing home – from the simple act of binning our rubbish, to not wasting electricity, bringing our own reusable bottles, and recycling right. It is all about being gracious and considerate to those who share our living spaces and environment and paying attention to protecting this planet earth that we all live on. We hope you would join us in this Clean and Green journey. #SKHGoGreen
