Dutch Jewish hospital is country’s first green health facility

A Jewish hospital near Amsterdam became the first healthcare facility in the Netherlands to receive official recognition for its environmentally friendly practices.

Jacques Moors, the chairman of the board of Hospital Amstelland in the Amsterdam suburb of Amstelveen, received the Dutch government’s Golden Environment Medal earlier this month for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent in two years, the Dutch Israelite Religious Community, or NIK, announced last week.

The hospital is the first healthcare facility to win the official Eco label, NIK reported.

“The environment has always been important to the hospital, but since 2010 the hospital has been focusing more intensively on sustainability and the environment,” Moors said.

“In 2011, we signed a sustainability agreement with the Municipality of Amstelveen, in which the reduction of CO2 emissions formed a focal point,” Moors said. “Since then, the hospital realized a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of up to 15 percent and we generate 78.2 percent of the energy we consume.”

Amstelland was Jewish owned and intended for Jewish patients until 1971, when it merged with a non-Jewish hospital. However, the hospital, which is located in Holland’s most heavily Jewish area, still has a Jewish ward where only kosher food is served, Jewish holidays are observed and men and women are hospitalized in separate areas.