KMC nurses host chapter meeting Published April 28, 2014 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Keesler Medical Center's operating room nurses hosted the local Association of Operating Room Nurses Chapter meeting in the Back Bay Tower operating room waiting area April 10. Thirty-four nurses representing eight Coast hospitals and surgery centers attended. "This was the largest group ever to attend the local chapter meeting," said chapter president Deborah Henley. Guest speakers included Joan Sullivan, Stryker Sustainability Solutions; Doug Smith, Zero Waste Solutions; and Maj. Wendy Wilkins, 81st Surgical Operations Squadron Operating Room Flight commander. Sullivan discussed Stryker Sustainability's reprocessing and unopened and unused recycling programs. She noted Keesler is a two-time recipient of Stryker's Healthy Hospital Award, reflecting the facility's position among the top five percent in the nation in recycling. Smith then addressed the base's recycling program and how the partnership between Zero Waste Solutions and Keesler AFB began. Team Keesler's recycling program won the Mississippi State Environmental Hero Award in the state/Department of Defense category last year. Wilkins ended the program by discussing how the operating room staff started and then set the pace for the medical center's recycling efforts. She credited her OR team, both nurses and technicians, "whose efforts were recognized when Keesler won the 2013 Commander-in-Chief's Installation Excellence Award." She also fielded questions covering areas such as how the medical center started its recycling program, the roll of military operating room nurses and what they do in the deployed setting. "Team Keesler continues to set the pace, having recently earned Air Education and Training Command's "King of the Hill" recognition for their efforts in the Air Force's Cost Conscious Culture initiative which led to the recycling rollout at 10 military training flights," Wilkins added. The military hospitals include: Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; Travis AFB, Calif.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgery Center, Lackland AFB, Texas; Nellis AFB, Nev.; Andrews AFB, Md.; Langley AFB, Va.; Air Force Academy Ambulatory Surgery Center, Colo.; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. My goal is to have everyone in military facilities and on the Coast recycling. Environmentally, it's the right thing to do and has proven to be cost-effective, with participating companies paying us for our trash." "Currently, Keesler's OR is number one in the Air Force in recycling returns with a savings of $1.5 million in 2013," The major said. "We proudly claim a 216,433-pound environmental footprint savings since our program was initiated." Following the briefings, the nurses broke into small groups and toured the medical center's operating room and sterile processing department where OR technicians demonstrated the OR's recycling program process.