Hospitals and other health care facilities are critical components of any community, serving as stewards of the community’s health, promoting preventive health and delivering quality treatment and services.  As such, they have the opportunity to maximize their efforts to become true healing environments for patients, workers, the larger community, and the environment.  Hospitals and healthcare facilities can eliminate specific toxins, prevent pollution, reduce exposures to people, and minimize medical waste while saving costs.

The health care and business communities in the U.S. are recognizing that the food system — how our food is produced, distributed and disposed of — is misaligned with dietary guidelines and is largely reliant on methods of production and distribution that harm public and environmental health.  By adopting healthy food purchasing policies, businesses and health care organizations are demonstrating a commitment to improving health by treating food and its production, distribution and disposal as preventive medicine that protects and enhances the health of people and communities.

Recognizing that climate change is the most significant issue facing this and future generations, education on mitigation and adaptation strategies to protect health.

By engaging all parties - pharmaceutical manufacturers, state/federal agencies, healthcare providers, pharmacies, and health insurance companies and others - we can begin to create safer medications, reduce unnecessary purchasing or prescribing, establish sustainable programs for proper disposal, support technology that more safely neutralizes pharmaceutical compounds released into the environment, and protect the health of people, wildlife and our drinking water.

The scientific evidence is growing stronger everyday, indicating links between health and the environment.  From personal care products (deodorants, shampoos, lotions, etc) to cleaning products to building materials, thousands of chemicals never tested for safety or human health impacts are making their ways into our bodies.

Working to make environmental health issues accessible through educational programs for practitioners, the public and others.  WHEN offers conferences, workshops and other programs for health professionals, legislators and policy makers, childcare staff, and the public on current issues relating to environmental toxins and health.  WHEN's lecture series educates the public by bringing published authors to local venues to discuss environmental health issues. 

WHEN engages in research projects to promote understanding of the link between environmental toxins and human health, pilots various surveys, and assesses community action in remediating environmental health concerns.

WHEN offers consultation and onsite technical assistance to organizations.  Building on over ten years of experience on greening and sustainability with healthcare, childcare and through educational programs, WHEN brings knowledge, skills and expertise on waste minimization, climate change mitigation strategies, toxins reduction, green building operations, and sustainable food.