A Deep Dive Into Psychiatric Medicine and Sustainability in Hospitals

Mrs. Wanda Orr – Behavioral Health Nursing Supervisor

The health professional I interviewed was Wanda Orr. Mrs. Orr is a Behavioral Health Nursing Supervisor in Northern Virginia. Mrs. Orr explained in the interview that she knew she wanted to be in the field of psychiatric’s. Her career involves creating protocols and directing the measures to be taken when change happens. For example, for the opioid crisis, she needs to decide how they are going to address it to meet patients’ needs. She describes her job as very rewarding because she gets to see patients getting better over time. Mrs. Orr also emphasized the importance of sustainability in her workplace because hospitals do create a lot of waste with single-use items. Even though sustainability is still a work in progress, hospitals are generally getting better at being more aware of their carbon footprint and making changes to improve themselves. She believes sustainability is important because we need to take care of the earth since we only have one. I learned that it is easier for some medical professions than others to be able to be sustainably and environmentally friendly. In some professions like Mrs. Orr’s, you can only do so much to be sustainable due to strict regulations and policies preventing the spread of germs and disease; specifically regarding waste. The important thing is that they are still improving and making changes to be better.