NOURISH: The Future of Food in Health Care

The new NOURISH website has launched and the cohort has been announced! Click here to meet the 25 Nourish Innovators from across Canada who will be working together to shape the future of food in health care. How can food in health care improve patient experience? Institutional culture? Community well-being? Supported by an ecosystem of facilitators, mentors, and partners who are committed to a co-learning, co-practicing approach to systems change, the cohort will work collaboratively on the challenges and opportunities of leveraging health care institutions to be anchors of health, within and beyond their walls. 

The Coalition is proud to be a supporter of NOURISH. Learn more.
RIP faxed X-rays. Hello rescuing 450,000 sheets of paper! As of March 31, 2017, the Joint Department of Medical Imaging (JDMI) will no longer fax or mail imaging reports. X-Rays, CT-scans and the like are available digitally, so the extra paper trail is a road to nowhere. This latest change affects several hospitals in Toronto since JDMI spans University Health Network, Sinai Health Systems, and Women’s College Hospital. How many sheets of paper this might save? Leon Goonaratne, Senior Director of Informatics at the JDMI, estimates that the reduction of about 9,000 faxes per week to internal physicians will save over 450,000 pieces of paper in a year! Read more.
The Future of Sinks in Hospitals. On March 1st, 2017, CTV News did a segment on the ground-breaking new ozonated water sink used to promote hand hygiene in hospitals. 
This state-of-the-art sink is a no-touch invention that produces ozonated water for hand washing, along with an auto-flush feature that automatically turns on the water every 10 minutes to ensure no bio-film build up. Collingwood General and Marine Hospital is one of the first in Canada to install five new ozonated water sinks, distributed by  Class 1 Inc., as part of its emergency room modernization. Read more.

Rebates for Reclaiming. Every litre of anesthetic gas released into the atmosphere causes 2 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions! Ontario (through Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCR) Halogenated Drug Recovery (HDR) campaign) will pay 50% of the cost of equipment for hospitals wanting to reduce their anesthetic emissions. Be one of the select hospitals taking advantage of this opportunity and email marian.marshall@class1inc.com by April 20, 2017. Learn more.
Purchasing Power: 10 Lessons on Getting More Local, Sustainable, and Delicious Food in Schools, Hospitals, and Campuses. Food Secure Canada and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation are jointly releasing the report  Purchasing Power: 10 Lessons on Getting More Local, Sustainable, and Delicious Food in Schools, Hospitals and Campuses. The lessons profile what has been learned about how to shift institutional food purchasing to sustainability–from defining local, to leveraging contracts, to building food cultures, to policy change–and what the opportunities are for scaling this work.
Toronto General Hospital nurse’s plastic collection transformed into mural. For 30 years, Tilda Shalof of the Toronto General Hospital's ICU has been collecting the medicine caps, tube connectors, vial lids, and syringe coverings left over from treating some of the sickest hospital patients. Finally, she's figured out what to do with them. The plastic collection - over 10,000 pieces - has been transformed into a colourful mosaic embedded in clear resin that now proudly hangs at the Toronto General Hospital, a part of University Health Network. Read more.  
Reusable Cleanroom Coveralls — Improving the Sustainability Scorecard. Cleanroom coveralls are an essential component in facilities for the bioprocessing, life sciences, and semiconductor sectors. With recent revisions of USP 797, and pending implementation of USP 800 in 2018, cleanroom coveralls are expanding in use to meet sterility and chemical control guidelines. New uses for these coveralls include a variety of compounding facilities (such as for pharmaceuticals that are hazardous, used in radiopharmacology, allergen extracts, and ancillary storage facilities) and many hospital pharmacies. By simply adopting reusable garments, cleanroom facilities can add directly to their sustainability score sheet in the areas of lower energy, improved water footprint, and landfill reductions. Read more.

Fairview to cut pop, other sugar-sweetened drinks at hospitals, clinics. Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, will stop selling sugar-sweetened drinks at its facilities, including hospitals, to promote healthier lifestyles. The new rule took effect April 3 and includes Fairview’s clinics, pharmacies, hospitals and other facilities. The change applies to cafeterias, vending machines and shops.  Examples of drinks that will no longer be sold at Fairview sites include soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and fruit drinks (diluted fruit juices with added sugar.) Patients, employees and visitors will still be able to bring their own sugar-sweetened drinks into Fairview facilities. Read more.

Schools and Hospitals Join Forces to Support California Sustainable Food Producers. On March 29, School Food Focus and Health Care Without Harm announced  ProCureWorks, a collaboration between two of the largest institutional food service sectors – public school districts and health care systems. "ProCureWorks leverages the combined purchasing power of over 530 schools and 55 hospitals across three Californian communities to create healthier food choices for the well-being of children, patients, staff and families,” said School Food Focus Executive Director Toni Liquori. “This innovative cross-sector collaboration catalyzes meaningful change in our food system, as we demonstrate how the power of procurement can transform supply chains across California and nationwide.”  Read more.
New Resource for Health Providers Offers Guidance for Antibiotic Stewardship Beyond Clinical Care. This module, developed by an ad hoc subcommittee of the  Clinician Champions in Comprehensive Antibiotic Stewardship (CCCAS) Collaborative, provides the tools to incorporate this important aspect of stewardship into your hospital-based antibiotic stewardship program. It specifically addresses the role for health care facilities and clinicians in promoting comprehensive stewardship of antibiotics in clinical practice and food production alike, to protect the public against rising rates of antibiotic-resistant infections.
Boxborough firm is shredding medical waste — and expectations. The five-year old Boxborough company started as a sketch on a napkin, but this year, Sterilis Medical is projected to close on $26.5 million in revenue. The company is seeking to disrupt the industry of medical waste disposal. Instead of the convoluted packaging, hauling, tracking, and incineration, Sterilis has created a medical waste shredder. Needles, contaminated gloves and more are transformed into sterilized confetti, going through steam sterilization and then a grinder. The patented machine, which costs $50,000 a piece, breaks down medical waste within 20 minutes, and is quiet enough to sit inside the treatment room of the doctor’s office. Read more.
Events and Announcements
National Health Leadership Conference
Value-based healthcare: Embracing a patient and family-centered approach  

June 12-13, 2017   
Vancouver, British Columbia
This conference is the largest national gathering of health system decision-makers in Canada including trustees, chief executive officers, directors, managers, department heads and other health leaders representing various sectors and professions in health regions, authorities and alliances, hospitals, long-term care organizations, public health agencies, community care, mental health and social services. As well, the conference draws participants from government, education and research organizations, professional associations, consulting firms and industry.

The conference will include two sessions dealing with sustainability issues: 

1. Finding and Framing the Value of Food in Health Care, offered by NOURISH program participants Shelly Crack from Haida Gwai Hospital and Michelle Nelson from Covenent Health and leaders from the McConnell Foundation Beth Hunter and Hayley Lapalme. See more info at: http://www.nhlc-cnls.ca/sessions/10/ 

2. Come Hell or High Water: Building Resilience, Managing Risk and Gaining Returns from Climate Change, presented by the Coalition's Green Health Leader Neil Ritchie, Deanna Fourt from Island Health and Angie Woo from Lower Mainland Health. See more detail at: http://www.nhlc-cnls.ca/sessions/14/



    Green Hospital Scorecard Results are in! 
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care and the Ontario Hospital Association are excited to announce the top scorers from the 2016 Green Hospital Scorecard! We would like to thank all the participants for submitting data to this year’s program and sharing their environmental initiatives.

Below are the top five performers in each category, listed alphabetically. Tune in to our webinar on April 25th at 11 AM EDT for announcement of the winners and runners-up!

Overall Top Performers – Hospitals with the highest overall scores.
  • Chatham Kent Health Alliance
  • Michael Garron (formerly Toronto East General)
  • Northumberland Hills Hospital
  • Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph of the Hotel Dieu of St. Catharines
  • St Michael’s Hospital
Top Energy Performers – Hospitals with the highest energy score, which is based on energy consumption (scaled by size), greenhouse gas emissions, the presence of energy conservation policy, and other energy initiatives.
  • Hamilton Health Sciences - Hamilton General Hospital
  • Michael Garron Hospital
  • Niagara Health – Port Colborne site
  • SickKids
  • South Muskoka Memorial Hospital
Top Water Performers – Hospitals with the highest water score, which is based on water consumption (scaled for building size and number of beds), the presence of water conservation policy, and other water initiatives.
  • Geraldton District Hospital
  • Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
  • Northumberland Hills Hospital
  • Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph of the Hotel Dieu of St. Catharines
  • St Michael’s Hospital
Top Waste Performers - Hospitals with the highest waste score, which is based on general and biohazardous waste production (scaled for building size and number of beds), recycling streams, the presence of waste reduction policy, and other waste initiatives.
  • Northumberland Hills Hospital
  • SickKids
  • South Muskoka Memorial Hospital
  • Trillium Health Partners - Queensway Health Centre
  • Woodstock General Hospital

To learn the winners of each category, and more about Ontario’s most earth-conscious hospitals, tune in to one of The Coalition’s FREE webinars in the coming weeks. These webinars are open to everyone:

1. Innovation Focus: Thursday, April 20th, 2017 11 AM – 12 PM EDT – Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems are of high interest for their ability to provide resilient power to health care facilities. Join our session to hear about the EU's Horizon program on powering CHP with alternative energy systems specifically designed for European hospitals, and what is happening in Canada on CHP.  Register here.
2. Top Performers: Tuesday April 25th, 2017 11 AM – 12 PM EDT – Presentation of awards to winners, recognition to runners-up in each category, profiling top performers and program successes.  Register here.
3. Energy Focus: Thursday April 27th, 2017 11 AM – 12 PM EDT - Highlighting the most energy efficient hospitals as well as innovative energy initiatives.  Register here.


Instructions to Join the Webinars (same info for all sessions):
At 11 AM EDT, click the link to view the slide show: http://join.me/greenhealth.
For audio, dial one of the following local numbers, and enter the conference
ID: 963-150-898#.

Canada - Brantford+1.226.401.9363
Canada - Charlottetown+1.902.200.0149
Canada - Edmonton+1.587.415.0177
Canada - Montreal+1.514.800.1233
Canada - Ottawa+1.613.699.9318
Canada - Quebec+1.581.705.4251
Canada - Saskatchewan+1.306.400.1019
Canada - Toronto+1.647.977.2648
Canada - Vancouver+1.778.654.8779
Canada - Winnipeg+1.204.500.0399

We look forward to sharing the successes of the 2016 Green Hospital Scorecard program with you!
http://greenhealthcare.ca
http://greenhealthcare.ca/ghs

Knowledge Sessions 2017
RCO will be hosting and facilitating a trio of Knowledge Sessions in 2017 that aim to educate and empower members, interested stakeholders and the public to better understand, support, and accelerate the transition from a linear model of take-make-dispose to a circular economy.

The series will inform participants on the theory of circular economy and how it is creating change around the globe. It will offer businesses, policymakers, and organizations innovative examples that outline ideas and opportunities how to leverage this emerging economic model. All Knowledge Sessions will be held at the Beanfield Centre in Toronto.

Upcoming sessions:

Session 2: Thursday, May 4, 2017
Procurement: 
Advancing the Circular Economy through Buying Power 
Beyond Policy and into Practice
Speakers: Mathy Stanislaus & Dr. Mervyn Jones

Session 3: Thursday, June 8, 2017 
Accelerating Circular Economic Behaviour and Waste Reduction in the
IC&I Sector


RCO Member Rate: $300

Non-Member Rate (early bird to April 20): $375
Non-Member Rate (April 21 - May 2): $425
Event Location: Beanfield Centre
IFMA Foundation Releases Global Green Cleaning as part of their "Sustainable How-To Guide" Series
Registration for CleanMed 2017 Now Open
Anchoring Healthy Communities
May 16-18, 2017
Minneapolis, Minnesota

This year, CleanMed will introduce “Mind Meetings” through the CleanMed mobile app. Attendees can download the app and connect in 10-minute rapid-fire meetings on the expo floor with other attendees, speakers, coaches, staff, and others they may want to chat with. More information will be at    www.cleanmed.org closer to the conference date.   

Make sure to secure your spot ASAP as there is a very limited housing block at the Hilton Minneapolis Downtown. To secure the special rate of $201 per night, visit  http://cleanmed.org/hotel/
Do you have a photo or story for The Green Digest? Send to samantha@greenhealthcare.ca