CCGHC Now Recruiting 2017-2018 Mentoring Cohort!
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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Green Hospital Scorecard Sector Reports Now Available!
The long anticipated GHS Sector Reports are now available on the Coalition's website. Sector reports include information on:
- 2016 participant cohort demographics
- De-identified information on participant's Energy, Water, and Waste data
- Case studies and unique environmental initiatives happening at participating hospitals
- and more!
CLICK HERE to access the Sector reports and
HERE for additional resources for the 2016 GHS Program. The
GHS 2017 is scheduled to launch this Fall.
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A Global Win for Environmental Health: Worldwide Agreement to Ban Mercury Comes in to Effect August 16.
The
Minamata Convention on Mercury
, a global treaty that will phase out mercury-based medical devices by 2020, entered into force on August 16, 2017.
The first Conference of the Parties will take place from 24 to 29 September 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more about
The Convention
,
History of Negotiations
, and
Implementation Support.
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The Chemical Footprint Project 2017 Annual Report.
Clean Production Action, in partnership with the UMass Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and Pure Strategies, has released the second annual
Chemical Footprint Project report
. The report includes findings on the progress companies are making in shifting towards environmentally sound chemicals management policies and practices. Check out
https://www.chemicalfootprint.org/ to learn more.
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- Visually demonstrates climate impacts across a hospital and
- Highlights examples of Health Care Climate Council members’ solutions that are improving climate and health, and saving money too.
Explore the playbook
,
and download tools, including a PowerPoint, the PDF version, or a JPEG of a particular section. Use it to educate and inspire your fellow employees, the leadership within your health system, and your community.
Read more
.
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Banned yesterday, here today: Banned flame retardants present in umbilical blood.
Restricted in the United States in 2004,
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
were flame retardants commonly found in objects such as foam-filled furniture, electronics, and building materials. Unfortunately, due to their
persistence in the environment
and their continued presence in older items, PBDEs continue to be absorbed into the body and passed down in a higher concentration via umbilical blood. Given the
neurotoxic
and endocrine disruptive properties of PBDEs, this new finding is of concern and highlights the need for a longitudinal study to better understand the long-term implications of the high concentration found in the blood of newborns.
Read more
.
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B.C. Lower Mainland’s health organizations announce a region-wide waste diversion program. This six-year program to implement recycling in BC’s Lower Mainland healthcare sites started with a pilot in 2009 at the four Lower Mainland health organizations (Fraser Health, Providence Health Care, Provincial Health Services Authority and Vancouver Coastal Health) in an effort to reduce recyclable materials and organics sent to landfill. With implementation of standardized recycling bins at 57 hospitals and residential care sites in the region now complete, staff, patients and visitors are recycling paper, plastic, metal containers and organics. The program covers a geographic region of 36,303.31 km and total waste footprint of 22,943 tonnes.
Read more.
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How do you dispose of mercury-containing lamps?
Tell us here
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New Web Resource for Clinicians: Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit.
Physicians for Social Responsibility
(PSR) and the
Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units
have just introduced the updated
Pediatric Environmental Health Toolkit
(PEHT). The new PEHT, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is a free web app that offers evidenced-based information for clinicians to educate parents about how to reduce toxic exposures to common environmental hazards during well-child visits. The Toolkit includes: Anticipatory Guidance, Key Concepts in Child Environmental Health, and a Resource Guide of Environmental Hazards with links for additional information.
Read more
.
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Doctors Condemn Fast Food at Navicent Medical Center.
Five hard-hitting bus shelter advertisements near the Medical Center, Navicent Health in Georgia urge the health facility to go #FastFoodFree. There is currently a McDonald’s restaurant in Navicent’s professional building at 770 Pine Street. According to documents obtained by the Physicians Committee—a nonprofit of 12,000 doctors—the medical center may soon have an opportunity to change its food environment as the medical center’s contract with McDonald’s expires June 11, 2019.
A study
published in the journal
Circulation
found that people who eat fast food once a week increase their risk of dying from heart disease by 20 percent. Two to three fast-food meals a week increase the risk of premature death by 50 percent. Four or more fast-food meals a week increase the risk of dying from heart disease by nearly 80 percent.
Costs are a concern to large, public hospitals like the Medical Center, Navicent Health, but a recent study shows that healthful, disease-fighting food can be inexpensive. Published in
Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition
, the study finds that omnivores can save $750 a year by simply switching to a plant-based diet.
Read more or check out
EatMoreChickpeas.org
.
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Costs of Pollution in Canada: Measuring the impacts on families, businesses and governments.
Pollution costs Canadian families, businesses, and governments tens of billions of dollars each year.
By harming human health, damaging forests and crops, and degrading the quality of land and water, pollution results in higher costs for many things including medical care, raw materials, food and public services.
Despite pollution’s widespread costs, Canadians are not adequately informed about them. With financial support from the Ivey Foundation, the International Institute for Sustainable Development reviewed and synthesized existing studies on the costs of pollution in an effort to improve the data available to Canadians. Read the full report
here
. You can also read highlights of the report in
English
or
French
.
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Ontario's Solutions 2030 Challenge
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Ontario’s Solutions 2030 Challenge is a global call for innovators to propose their solutions to help Ontario Industry reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. With up to $7 million in funding, including up to $3 million in support for the winning team to bring their transformative technology to market, the Challenge asks teams and industry to collaborate and envision a path forward to tackle climate change in Ontario and around the world.
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Registration for HealthAchieve 2017 Now Open!
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Global health care and business leaders come to HealthAchieve to be empowered by the potential that change holds. They seek new ways to push boundaries that move the health care system forward, to learn from and collaborate with industry leaders and innovators, and, ultimately, to change lives by helping to create a high-performing health system that is truly focused on putting patients first.
This year, HealthAchieve will be in the South Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre over two days, November 6 and 7.
Register today and save with early bird rates!
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CHES National Conference 2017
Quality Healthcare by Design: Putting People First
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September 17-19, 2017
Scotiabank Convention Centre
Niagara Falls ON
Key individuals representing over 400 healthcare facilities will be in attendance at this conference and networking event for health care professionals. Delegates include individuals who are directly involved in, or responsible for plant engineering, safety, real estate management, facilities management, facilities planning, support services, building maintenance, construction, environmental management, clinical engineering, security, and waste management.
For more information, click
here.
The Young Professional Grant (YPG)
YPG allows architects, engineers, technicians and other technical disciplines who are just starting their careers in the healthcare field the opportunity to attend the CHES National Conference as an educational opportunity and to network with other professionals.
Click here to learn more.
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CAEM Conference and Trade Show 2017 Registration is Now Open
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Join your peers to expand networks, discover new products and techniques, hear the best speakers, and learn about the very important future of environmental management.
Occupational Infections: AIDS to Zika
Dr. Murray Cohen, Consultants in Disease and Injury Control
The mounting threat of infectious agents on our health
Dr. Syed Sattar, CremCo Labs
Register before July 15th and be entered to WIN:
One Free Weekend @ Blue Mountain Resort
Includes Lodging for Two
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Recycling Council of Alberta Waste Reduction Conference 2017
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It Takes A Village
October 11-13, 2017
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Lake Louise, Alberta
Join your waste reduction peers in Lake Louise to learn and discuss the latest recycling and resource conservation issues and developments. This conference will deliver technical content through topics and speakers that promise to generate lively discussion, combined with ample networking opportunities and social events, to make this the premier waste reduction event in Canada.
Sing along with the
"It Takes A Village"
intro video, and find program updates, registration information, and other details on the
conference web site. Be sure to come back to this site often – the program will continue to be updated as speakers, sessions, and other feature events are confirmed. Register
HERE.
The RCA promotes and facilitates waste reduction, recycling and
resource conservation in the Province of Alberta.
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