I’d be lying if I said I’ve been a die-hard environmentalist my whole life.

But every day in the operating room, we use a lot of medical supplies: gowns, sutures, gloves, masks, drapes and countless other materials – all in the delicate care of our patients. Much of it is destined for the landfill, including medical supplies that have expired but could otherwise still serve a purpose.

Years of watching all this material turn to waste changed something in me. I knew there had to be a better way, a way to be better stewards of the environment and the resources we use to care for our patients.

A visit to my surgical colleagues at UVM Medical Center opened my eyes to a new possibility: We should donate this waste to people in need. UVM Medical Center was already working with Partners for World Health, a nonprofit organization that collects medical equipment and supplies for disadvantaged communities.

It clicked for me: The waste we were creating at Porter Medical Center could become something meaningful to people far beyond our operating room walls. This concept lit a fire in me, and I knew I needed to push for a change. So I started squirreling away everything I could. Early this year, Porter donated its first truck full of expired surgical supplies to Partners for World Health.

Since then, units from across Porter are now talking about how they, too, can collect and donate supplies. It feels like we are all in this together, working in our own corners of this health system, trying to make things better.

Breaking out of old habits has been an important lesson for me. We can always do things better. As the saying goes, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” 

Summer Collette is a surgical technologist at Porter Medical Center. She’s been with us nearly 20 years.