The Vitrolles maternity hospital: towards eco-responsible environmental health
With fewer than 1,000 deliveries a year, this level 1 maternity hospital stands out for its commitment to environmental health and social responsibility. Marie-Laure Bruyère, Quality, Risk Management and CSR Manager at Vitrolles Maternity Hospital, explains.
An environmental health plan
In 2023, the maternity hospital responded to a call for projects from ARS PACA to implement an environmental health plan, accompanied by the Primum Non Nocere agency. This approach aims to limit exposure to indoor pollutants for pregnant women, young children and maternity professionals. " Over and above our in-house achievements, we want to create a collective dynamic with the region's maternity units to exchange best practices and move forward together towards a common goal," explains Marie-Laure Bruyère.
Self-diagnosis and action plan
A self-diagnosis divided into nine themes, and a global and thematic scoring, were used to draw up an action plan. " We identified our strengths and areas for improvement, and prioritized our actions based on HAS criteria ," continues Marie-Laure.
Mapping and reducing pollutants
The maternity unit mapped out its cosmetics and cleaning products, eliminating those containing endocrine disruptors. This long-term project has rationalized product use and reduced waste.
Nesting and awareness workshops
Vanessa Laborelli, maternity manager and midwife, leads fun nesting workshops on a range of topics including household products, cosmetics, toys and air quality. These workshops aim to raise awareness of environmental health among expectant mothers without scaring them, while promoting healthy practices for themselves and their babies. " When you become a mom or when you're thinking about becoming a mom, that's when you want to make small changes and do healthy things for your baby, for your health," explains Vanessa Laborelli. Nesting workshops last around two hours and take place once a month.
Eco-design
The maternity unit works with the town council, the CPTS and the PMI to run workshops. It has also set up in-house training courses, and an eco-responsible maternity charter. "We recommend breastfeeding, and recycle baby bottles, which are currently made of plastic but will soon be made of glass. We offer a tote bag with a box containing healthy products for mothers to sign up for ," explains Marie-Laure Bruyère.
The maternity unit is currently working on setting up an association to recycle single-use instruments and improve the sorting of DASRI. This approach has generated a collective awareness of environmental issues, and provided a motivating impetus to continue along this path. " We are taking part in working groups with the other maternity units in the Almaviva Group. The aim is to duplicate this eco-responsible approach in other maternity units.