Deirdre Imus on Greening America's Hospitals - Newsweek: Tip Sheet Environment

One Child at a Time

Why it??�s so important that we provide our children with non-toxic hospitals, schools and homes.
Web-Exclusive CommentaryBy By Deirdre ImusSpecial to Newsweek

Oct. 9, 2006 - In today??�s world, where there are many things we cannot control, I have always felt it important to focus on?� areas in which I can make a difference. Rather than telling someone to change, I try to show them by example how it can be done.

My interest and commitment to children??�s health grew out of concern for my own health.?� As a runner in college and high school, I began to learn about food, hoping I could improve my performance on the athletic field by improving my diet. Studying food opened my eyes to the state of the environment.?� Understanding the consequences from consuming foods that contained hormones and antibiotics; aware of the toxins used in fertilizers, I made a life choice and adopted a totally organic diet and found myself on an irreversible path towards a healthier and smarter way to live.

Deirdre ImusMy involvement as an advocate for children began about 15 years ago, after I began participating in the annual radiothons that my husband, Don Imus, hosted for the Tomorrow??�s Children Fund for children with cancer and the C. J. Foundation for SIDS. The more I worked with these wonderful foundations, the more I wanted to help the children and families trying to cope with unimaginable pain.

Realizing I couldn??�t help every child, I was inspired by the example of Mother Teresa. Walking through the impoverished streets of Calcutta, she was once asked how she could pass by so many lepers and not stop to help them. In her humble grace and wisdom Mother Teresa explained, she could not help everyone, but would help one leper and then another ??� one leper at a time.

Knowing that we could not help every child with cancer or every child who had lost a sibling to SIDS, my husband and I wanted to give something special, and at the same time some sense of normalcy, to these remarkable children. My husband grew up on a ranch. Because of his experiences as a child, we decided to create an authentic working cattle ranch designed to provide the lost adventure of the great American cowboy. The Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer is located in Ribera, New Mexico and for five months each year we welcome children from around the country to enjoy a fun and unique experience. At the ranch we maintain and provide a healthy diet and a clean environment free of pesticides and toxic cleaning products.

In 2000, still not satisfied that I had done all that I could, I began investigating how toxins in the home and hospital environment affected our children??�s health. I was concerned about the number of supposedly safe products used in our everyday living. We are exposed to more than 82,000 chemicals in our environment. Yet the EPA has reviewed fewer than 2 percent for their safety. Environmental hazards are not always obvious and yet they are real and affect us all??�especially children. Regrettably, it is our children who are the most vulnerable to many environmental insults. In fact, studies have shown a 30 percent increase in various cancers in children result from exposure to toxins in our environment.

From the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat, numerous toxic substances from a variety of sources are bombarding our children each day. Not enough is known about how all of these toxins, interact with one another and our body chemistry. Taking any step to reduce or eliminate toxins in our environment is simple common sense and is often easy to do.

Working with New Jersey??�s Hackensack University Medical Center we established The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology in 2001. This facility evolved from a lifelong dream about a culture that would truly see children as its most important priority.

The Center represents one of the first hospital-based programs whose specific mission is to identify, control and ultimately prevent environmental factors that may cause adult and, especially, pediatric cancer and other health problems with our children.?� The hospital is the first in the nation to undertake a comprehensive greening program.

The Center??�s mission is twofold: to enhance health by educating our children, their parents and the public-at-large about the carcinogens and other environmental factors that occur all too commonly in our lives ??� and to serve as a voice that can realistically help shape policy decisions that impact the environment and our well being.

Soon after the Center opened, I began developing the Greening the Cleaning??� institutional program to help eliminate toxic cleaning agents and replace them with safer, non-toxic alternatives. These cleaning products are cost efficient, work as well as the leading industrial cleaning products and 100% of the profits go to charity.

To date, we have greened the cleaning in over 200 facilities including many hospitals, schools, corporations, a major airport, day care centers and health spas. Our retail line is now available in thousands of stores nationwide. 100% of these profits also go to charity.

All of these initiatives have been true labors of love for our children. My motivation is a simple one: Children are our most precious natural resource. Their environment shouldn't harm them. Because children are unable to protect themselves, we must make every effort to diligently and continuously examine how toxins in our environment may be affecting and compromising our children??�s health. The key to protecting our children is prevention.

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We may not be able to change the world, but we can change the way we think about children??�s health. Each one of us has tremendous potential to make a difference. Switching to a non-toxic cleaning product is a single change that can lead to another and another and ultimately to a cleaner, safer and healthier life.

Deirdre Imus is the founder and president of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center. For more information, go to www.dienviro.com.

? 2007 Newsweek, Inc.