While many people around the blogosphere has been pointing to the death of homebirth advocate Janet Frazer’s baby with a gigantic, “See?…See?!” (followed by a “Na-na-na-na-boo-bo!”), this, too can be an example of how even hospitals can–gasp!–royally screw things up.

Actually, 2 moms were infected in the maternity ward at Ohio’s Mary Rutan Hospital. Now, both the hospital and the CDC are baffled by the cases:

Babies were healthy, moms were healthy.

Well, the moms were healthy when they arrived. Not so much after giving birth.

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The medical centers provide crucial aid to approximately 200,000 refugees who have fled Burma because of the catastrophic, genocidal efforts of its military-dominated government.

Located in numerous locations along the border of Burma and Thailand, the remote clinics help people with serious injuries and also with basic care. They are often the only source of medical care refugees have. About 1 million displaced people are estimated to be hiding in the heavily land-mined border zone, doing their best to hang on despite the ever-present possibility of violence.

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The effort to train medical staff so that they could travel to these remote facilities and install solar power systems received top honors at this year’s Energy Globe Awards, competing among 800 environmental projects from 111 countries.

The significance of the effort cannot be understated, as the care centers available to these desperate people were without electricity prior to the training project. The risk of the Burmese military attacking clinics has demanded the use of less permanent, flexible medical facilities. Now that solar power has been installed in many of the mobile clinics, medical personnel can operate more easily on patients who have urgent needs during night hours. Laptops can also be used to assess important medical databases. Communication devices and microscopes can be powered, as well as refrigerators for life-saving vaccines. An eye doctor was even able to start providing cataract surgeries last year: something that was not possible before without electricity.

According to a news release from the Energy Globe website, the Burma solar clinic project won this year’s overall grand prize in a landslide and received a standing ovation. The awards ceremony took place in the Czech Republic earlier this week, and was attended by many of Europe’s key environmental leaders. To read more about the Energy Globe competition click here.

How You Can Help Contribute to the Burma Project and Others

While the remarkable achievement to bring solar power to Burmese mobile clinics is credited to a partnership of groups, our friends at the non-profit Green Empowerment played a crucial role in the project. I’ve written before about one of their successful partnership projects that brought wind power to a small community in Peru that previously had no electricity. With an emphasis on alternative energy and small green initiatives that build community capacity and improve quality of life, Green Empowerment has become a major player in conservation efforts throughout the world.

Proof of this status is clear not only because Green Empowerment is involved with the Burma solar clinics, but also because one of their projects in Nicaragua was also a finalist for the top honors in the Energy Globe’s water category. Green Empowerment has a wealth of detailed information on their website about the Burma solar clinic project, as well as their other efforts worldwide. Their projects are financed via grants and also by people like us.

If you’d like to donate money or resources to the effort to bring solar power to medical clinics in the Burma area, or to other projects, please visit Green Empowerment’s website at www.greenempowerment.org.

Photo Courtesy of Green Empowerment

This national leading Catholic hospital system is now leading the nation in more ways than one.

CHW has made the decision to use food suppliers who have agreed to seek out alternatives to foods made with genetically engineered (GE) ingredients or cloned animals.

Included in CHW’s new food policy is GE sugar beets, which just recently have been introduced into the nation’s food supply, as well as meat and dairy products from cloned animals, which the FDA has decided to allow.

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If this provision never becomes law, then those of you who may someday become victims of lung disease, will have to do without rehab when you reach Medicare age.

Congress overwhelmingly approved the Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation Act, which, among other things, would make life easier for Americans who suffer from lung disease.  This, you say, may not tie into environmentalism, but think again; coal smoke, smoking, second-hand smoke, pollutants in the air, all add to lung disease, and heaven knows we’ve had a century of air pollution pouring into our lungs.  It isn’t over yet.

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1. Bring Your Own Organic Food

When my son first had open-heart surgery, breastfeeding supplied his nourishment, although pumping was required. If you are concerned about Bisphenol A (BPA), be sure to remember your own BPA free bottles or sippy cups, as you may have to pump breastmilk initially for a child recovering from surgery. During our last hospital stay, we brought our own organic food to the ICU. In my experience, the first nourishment they give a child after surgery is a popsicle, soda, or juice. After being exposed to so many meds and germs, I want my child’s first drink after a fast to be organic. Organic juice boxes are convenient in such a situation, although they do use excessive packaging. When your child is ready for solid food, their favorite organic foods make a nice replacement for the hospital food, and your child will recover more quickly from eating the foods they like. It is important to check with your child’s doctor about any dietary restrictions and follow this advice.

2. Bring Your Own Beauty Products

Don’t forget your own toothpastes and soaps when planning a hospital stay. When the nurses gave my son a bath with Johnson & Johnson’s Original Baby Shampoo, which scores a 5 out of 10 on Skin Deep, my son broke out in a horrible rash all over his body. The nurses felt terrible, and we learned the hard way to bring our own green beauty products to the hospital. The last thing a child needs in this situation is to have their suffering increased by unnatural beauty products, and you can feel better that you have not abandoned your green living principles during the hospital stay.

3. What Diapers Will You Use?

After surgery, my son was put in Pampers, and an hour later, another rash erupted. We used cloth diapers at home, but I did not bring any to the hospital, as I felt we would have no way to deal with them. Seventh Generation unbleached diapers offered a good solution (this was before gDiapers), and the doctors used to comment on how they looked like the brown napkins from the cafeteria. Consider your child’s diapering needs before being admitted to the hospital, and ask if there are any accommodations for cloth. As it turns out, UCSF Children’s Hospital had a regular supply of cloth diapers that we could have used if we would have brought our own covers.

4. Provide Toys, Books, and Clothes From Home

The more like home you can make your child’s hospital stay, the better it will be for your child. Bringing their favorite organic teddy bear and pajamas will eliminate the need for hospital gowns and provide comfort. Unless these items are already green, this may not green your family’s stay, but your child will benefit. Babytoolkit offers an extensive post "What to Take When Your ER Visit May Become a Hospital Stay."

5. Pack Out the Recycling!

Some hospitals may have recycling bins near the cafeteria, but in my experience, these bins are not sufficient to accommodate all of your recycling needs. During our stay, the NICU did not wash baby bottles, but they continually used new, sterilized bottles. This is also true for pumped breastmilk and its storage. I came home from the hospital with two grocery bags full of plastic bottles, with every intent to reuse them. These bottles ended up in the recycling bin, but this is a much better option than the landfill. Who knows, your efforts to pack it out might inspire other parents and the nurses to change their disposable ways.

If you have a choice, selecting a green hospital will make your family’s hospital stay more eco-friendly; however, the green hospital of your choice may not be an option for your child’s medical needs. What makes a hospital green? The Green Guide used 12 criteria for rating green hospitals: 1) siting, 2) water efficiency, 3) energy and air pollutions, 4) materials and resources, 5) indoor environmental quality, 6) healthy hospital food, 7) green education, procurement, 9) contaminants, 10) green cleaning, 11) waste reduction, and 12) healing gardens. The greenest hospital in the country is Boulder Community Hospital Foothills Campus. "Hospitals are the heart and soul of the community and we need to be open for business no matter what," says Kai Abelkis, environmental coordinator for Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, Colorado. "If the hospitals in New Orleans had solar panels, at least they could have kept the respirators going. If hospitals upgraded to more efficient lighting, we could save a considerable sum, enhance emergency preparedness and improve air quality."

The more you can make your child’s hospital stay like home, the better your child will adapt and recover. For green families, this means bringing green products to the hospital and carrying out any recycling. Just like when going into the wilderness, the green hospital stay follows the credo "if you pack it in, you pack it out" (with the exception of medical waste!). If you can’t bring these items or know in advance what you might need, find the closest health food store or coop to the hospital, and ask a friend or relative to run an errand for you. By greening your family’s hospital stay, you will alleviate one less stress during these difficult times.