ST. LOUIS — AIDS and emerging infectious diseases led in the early 1980s to single-use medical devices. However, there is a rising medical awareness in the United States that perfectly good, barely used equipment should be diverted from landfills.
SSM Health Care – St. Louis is taking a local lead. In 2010, the organization saved nearly a half million dollars reprocessing and recycling medical devices ― keeping 19,270 pounds of material out of landfills.
Working with a company called SterilMed, SSM Health Care – St. Louis Contract and Supply Chain Management last year reprocessed 62,000 formerly single-use medical devices, including 11,000 compression sleeves and pulse oximeter probes, plus nearly 5,000 operating room devices.
Reprocessing does not pose a safety risk. SterilMed performs device functionality checks, after which reprocessed devices undergo a tightly controlled Food and Drug Administration-cleared sterilization process.
“It’s 50 percent cheaper to buy reprocessed devices than new ones,” explains Gary Peters, Supply Chain Management director of operations. “SterilMed can safely reprocess our devices up to three times, after which they are ground up and shredded for other recycled uses.”
According to Peters, there are about 100 hospital items that can be reprocessed. SterilMed also helps SSM Health Care – St. Louis reclaim and recycle metal and plastic from used devices that can not be reprocessed.
The 2010 recycling savings achieved at each of the six SSM Health Care – St. Louis hospitals were: SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, $85,515; SSM DePaul Health Center, $77,825; SSM St. Clare Health Center, $66,838; SSM St. Joseph Health Center, $105,258; SSM St. Joseph Hospital West, $57,353; SSM St. Mary’s Health Center, $60,700.
For media inquires, contact:
Kristen Johnson
Media Relations Specialist
SSM Health Care – St. Louis
314-989-2208 (office)
314-908-0427 (pager)
kristen_johnson@ssmhc.com