"
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading"
-Lao Tzu
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Green Hospital Scorecard (GHS) returns for a 5th year!
We are now accepting submissions for the 2017 Green Hospital Scorecard! This invitation is extended to all hospitals across Canada.
The Green Hospital Scorecard (GHS) provides meaningful measures of hospital operations, management, and policy adoption in the energy and environment sphere, and benchmarks environmental performance for hospitals alongside de-identified peer data. The survey collecting data for
2016
is now open! Participation is FREE.
Here is a link
to register for the FREE educational webinar on November 28th at 12:00PM-1:00PM EST.
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The 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany is currently underway.
This international conference has a major focus on global health. A significant aspect involved in this international conference is the “
Health Care Call to Action on Climate Change
”
.
This statement was “organized by Health Care Without Harm and its Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network, 129 institutions from 31 countries, representing the interests of more than 10,000 hospitals and health centers (including the Candian Coalition for Green Health Care)”.
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In our past issue we discussed the Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change.
The Lancet Countdown exists as a vast resource on how Climate Change is impacting global health.
Here is an animated video
outlining highlights from the Lancet Countdown Report.
Lancet countdown outlines effects of pollution towards public health
.
In the latest issue of The Lancet, they reported that nearly 9 million deaths were linked to pollution. These deaths are involved both air, and water pollution. Furthermore, the financial cost of treating those effects involves over 4.6 trillion (USD) dollars annually. More can be read about the effects of pollution
here
.
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The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is currently accepting applications for our second Climate Change Resiliency Mentoring Cohort.
Climate Change Resiliency Mentoring is a program that provides tools, resources, and guidance for facilities to evaluate and increase their resiliency to climate change impacts.
"Participating in this program really identified areas that our facilities team had to concentrate on. Not only were we able to target specific areas of preparedness, we were able to form action plans for some of the risks, such as obtaining water if there was a drought. Being a Public Private Partnership (P3) hospital, this exercise helped us create a better understanding of how our preparedness partnered with the building’s maintenance team as well. We would definitely recommend that a hospital go through this program to help identify areas that may require some more preparation in our changing climate."
Eileen Benedictus and Dorthy Duguay
North Bay Regional Health Centre
Climate change impacts are here now - is your facility ready?
If you are interested in participating in the mentoring program, fill out an interest form
here
. For more information on the program, click
here
.
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Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment (CPCHE) releases resource on Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs).
The CPCHE has compiled a factsheet that explains what to do if a CFL breaks.
Here is information on how to respond to broken CFL's.
Follow more online resources from the CPCHE on their website
here
.
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On November 6th, the Coalition collaborated with so many amazing green champions to help ensure a green education session at HealthAchieve.
At the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, these green champions discussed the importance of food and climate change resiliency.
"Food – it sustains us all - and as our environment changes, our access to resources changes with it. The importance of ensuring our hospitals and health care institutions implement sustainable food systems is becoming increasingly important for institutional resiliency and quality of patient care".
This session showed how the movement towards sustainable food systems is integral for the overall patient experience.
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5
Steps towards managing energy effectively
The website facility executive recently released a "5 step process to managing energy". It has been noted that energy is a major expense for any organization. Effective energy management is integral to reducing costs while fostering a culture of conservation.
“According to ENERGY STAR, it’s possible to decrease energy use by 10% by implementing simple changes, like adjusting temperature settings, with little or no cost. But consistency and organizational adoption are critical”.
Proper energy management is important to the sustainability for any scale organization.
Follow this link,
for the 5 steps to energy management planning.
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The Landscape Institute has released an article outlining the significance of green infrastructure and health.
It has been stated that 16% of mortalities in the UK have been linked to sedentary (inactivity) lifestyles. Furthermore, in the UK over $20 Billion is spent on managing type 2 diabetes for over 4 million people. This has prompted the National Health Service (NHS) to encourage doctors to use “social prescription”. This concept involves community workers connecting patients to activities of interest that improve wellbeing. This has shown to be effective in reducing hospital visits and building community. The original article outlining social prescription and natural infrastructure can be found
here
.
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Interior Health (IH) has been recognized by Smart Office Solutions for using ‘refreshed’ office furniture at the Community Health and Services Centre (CHSC) in Kelowna
.
By doing so, 206,000 pounds of furniture was kept from going into the local landfill– the equivalent of 12 elephants! IH was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for giving the furniture a new life and purpose, not only benefiting the environment but also IH’s bottom line.
“Using a product otherwise destined for the landfill, while reaping the cost-savings, was a significant factor in our decision-making” according to Donna Lommer, CFO and VP, Support Services. Convenience was another factor considered–reusing furniture allowed for a quicker phased move and made finding optimal layouts easier.
It was also the right thing to do. With 75% of used office furniture being dumped in landfills across North America, the decision to reuse was a win-win.
“We’re proud that we were able to limit unnecessary waste to the landfill” says Sylvia Weir, Corporate Director, Business Integration and Development. Weir says even the furniture that didn’t make it to the CHSC is finding a new home. “Our older, used furniture will be repurposed by other organizations – as a whole or in part by recycling, reusing or upcycling all useable parts”. Congrats to Interior Health on their accomplishment and initiative as leaders in greening health care.
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CHES 2018 National Conference
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CHES 2018 National Conference
St. John's NL
September 16-18, 2018
St. John's Convention Centre
Call for Abstract Submissions
We are seeking leaders from Canada and beyond to inspire, demonstrate, educate and share with CHES members the stories, tips, trials, methods and solutions to help us to improve patient outcomes with smarter infrastructure.
Like other CHES National Conferences, our education program will also feature two tracks. Our goal is the delivery of an educational program that directly links to the theme of the conference.
We look forward to seeing you in St. John’s!
Registration is now open!
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7th Building SustainABLE Cities and Communities
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The Fresh Outlook Foundation is hosting its 7th Building SustainABLE Communities conference Nov 21-24 in Kelowna, BC. The overarching theme is Innovation Through Collaboration, with major forum topics being Climate Action, Water Stewardship, Food Systems/Security, and Community Capital/Infrastructure. Participants include government, business and not for profits that will come together to focus on topics surrounding climate change and community health.
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CES Future of Smart Cities Conference
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CES Smarter Cities Conference 2018
January 9-12, 2018
Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)
Las Vegas, Nevada
CES is the only place to experience the entire connected ecosystem that brings together the technologies, solutions, players and audiences in the smart city sector including: IoT, 5G Connectivity, Transportation and Smart Automotive, Energy and Utilities, Health and Public Safety, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
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Greening Health Care Workshop #4
November 29
th
, 2017
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST
Topics covered in this workshop series include: thermal energy components, ventilation systems, and base electricity.
Non-Member, Government, Association, and Utility Companies: $125.00 + taxes
LINK
Other Industry Participants: $225.00 + taxes
LINK
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Sustainability and Waste Management in Healthcare
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HealthCAREcan
November 30th, 2017
1:00PM -2:00PM (EST)
Presented by:
Kent Waddington: Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, Communications Director
Register for the webinar
here
.
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Green Hospital Score Card Educational Webinar
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Canadian Coaltion for Green Health Care
November 28th, 2017
12:00 PM- 1:00PM (EST)
Presented by
:
Dan Ritchie, Sustainable Programs Manager: Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
This year the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care will be administering the GHS. The 2017 program collects environmental data for the
2016
calendar year (January 2016 – December 2016). The deadline to submit data will be January 20th, 2018. More information on this year’s GHS program can be found
here
. Be sure to check out our
GHS FAQ
for questions about submitting data to the program.
Register for the webinar
HERE
.
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