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The Coalition announces data call for the 2018 Green Hospital Scorecard!
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is pleased to announce the sixth year of the Green Hospital Scorecard program and extends an invitation to all hospitals to participate! Last year we had submissions from across Canada and internationally.

Click here to access this year's survey, which collects information for 2017 (January – December). If your organisation has multiple sites, a separate survey is required for each site. Please coordinate with your in-house team to ensure only one survey per hospital site is submitted for 2017 (January – December)
 
This year we are excited to expand the program by adding several new sections: Transportation, Food, Climate Change and Energy Behaviour. We will be offering free webinars to support participants with the new sections and with their submissions:

Educational webinar going over submissions, as well as the new sections. TOMORROW! Thursday, February 14 2019 at 12:00 PM – 1:00PM EST - sign up HERE.

Energy Behaviour webinar - an introduction and overview of energy behaviour.
Wednesday, February 20 2019 at 12:00 PM – 1:00PM EST - sign up HERE.

Participation in the Green Hospital Scorecard is FREE. The deadline for submissions is March 22, 2019 - submit by March 8, 2019 to win a $50 gift card of your choice! To help cover program delivery costs we encourage all participants to become members of the Coalition. For membership details, contact Linxi at linxi@greenhealthcare.ca.


FREE Professional mode of RETScreen Expert Energy Management software till March 31, 2019

Until March 31, 2019, the subscription based Professional mode of the RETScreen Expert Clean Energy Management (RETScreen) is available for a one-year free trial from Natural Resources Canada (further details provided below).

RETScreen is a comprehensive “made-in-Canada” clean energy management software platform which enables health care energy and building professionals and decision-makers to identify and assess the viability of energy efficiency, renewable energy and cogeneration projects; and measure and verify the actual and ongoing energy performance of buildings such as hospitals, long-term care homes, and energy plants.

For more information, please read this article or visit our website. To learn how you can get your FREE trial RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software subscription, and receive implementation assistance from the Coalition, please contact JJ Knott at jj.knott@greenhealthcare.ca.
Emission reporting and five year CDM plans

CDM Plans, first completed in 2014, require all broader sector public agencies to develop
measures to reduce their total energy consumption and demand every five years.This year, on or before July 1st, 2019, the CDM Plans from 2014 are up for review by each agency.

Similar to 2014, HELC (formerly known as HELO) and ECNG/HealthPRO are working together to provide CDM plan templates and annual consumption data for reporting. More information on the templates and education sessions will be released in the next few months. For more information, please click HERE.
Pharmaceutical industry ignoring environmental protection

Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a source of pharmaceutical pollution that is further exacerbated by poorly enforced environmental legislation in countries such as India and China. Several studies show that polluting factories breeding resistant bacteria are exporting to EU markets and directly selling drugs to EU-based health care providers and buyers.

The results have been compiled in Health Care Without Harm Europe’s report The environmental impact of pharmaceutical manufacturing. The study shows that although these companies frequently disclose general data related to environmental sustainability and governance, detailed information relating to specific measures taken to prevent pharmaceutical pollution at own-operated and supplier facilities remain unavailable to the public. Therefore, there is a need for greater transparency from the industry in this regard. 

To access the report, click HERE.
Collingwood hospital world's first with self-sanitizing rooms

Collingwood General and Marine Hospital is poised to become a world leader in sanitation. The hospital hopes to improve patient care by having the first self-sanitizing patient rooms in the world.

“ We have small patient rooms. There are only 58 of them. We can’t build more rooms. We can’t make them bigger. But we can make them safer using technology ,” says Jory Pritchard-Kerr with the hospital’s foundation.

The technology includes things like handle-free smart sinks that produce ozonated water, which hospital officials say is four times for effective than bleach to kill bacteria. Officials say it will significantly reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections.

For more information on this story, please click HERE.
'Food is medicine': Sioux Lookout Hospital program brings traditional food to patients

A plate of baked pickerel with potatoes, vegetables and a slice of bannock is one of the special meals given to patients at Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre every Thursday. It's part of the Miichim traditional food program co-ordinated by Kathy Loon.

Loon is part of the Indigenous Foodways project through a national program called Nourish, which is working with other Indigenous advisors and health care providers to find ways to raise awareness of the importance of traditional food.

To read more about this program, please click HERE.
Canada's new Food Guide will be healthier for people – and the planet

What is a healthy diet? And how can we sustainably provide that food for the world’s growing population? These questions were recently answered thanks to a landmark study published this month by The Lancet, one of the world’s top medical journals. The study is the result of three years of work by the EAT-Lancet Commission and a group of 37 leading scientists from 16 countries.

Fortunately for us here in Canada, the Commission’s recommendations closely match those of the new Canada Food Guide. Both found that lives can be saved by embracing a diet richer in fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains, while cutting back on red meat, saturated fat, processed foods and sugar.

As the EAT-Lancet Commission points out, these shifts are urgently needed because current dietary patterns are harming both people and planet. Unhealthy diets — whether they are caused by too much food, low-quality food, or inadequate food — are responsible for more illness and death globally than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use combined.

To read the full report, please click HERE. To read the brief for health care professionals, click HERE and to read a commentary on this work from CAPE physicians Dr. Courtney Howard and Dr. Trevor Hancock, please click HERE.
ACT Low Carbon Resilience Report & National Professional Associations Joint Statement

ACT is excited to announce the release of the final report and deliverables for our year-long project exploring low carbon resilience (LCR) best practices for professionals.

This project focused on the key role professionals play as change agents in climate action, and what is needed for all sectors to advance uptake of LCR-based practices. The case studies, tools and resources presented in this report were developed in consultation with professional representatives across Canada through meetings held in early spring and late fall of 2018 – at the local level in BC, with SFU ACT’s Professional Advisory Council (ACTPAC); at the provincial level, with the BC Professional Associations Adaptation Working Group (PAAWG), hosted by the Fraser Basin Council; and with national professional associations in Ottawa, co-hosted with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. 

To access the report and other resources, please click HERE.
Life-cycle environmental emissions and health damages from the Canadian health care system: An economic-environmental-epidemiological analysis

Global environmental change is being increasingly recognized as a threat to human health. Paradoxically, the delivery of health care services has a significant environmental footprint, which contributes to an increasing global burden of disease.

The researchers used Canadian health care expenditures from 2009 to 2015 to estimate the amount of greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions generated by Canadian health care activities. Using a model that links environmental emissions to disease, they were able to estimate the damages to human health caused by the Canadian health care system. They found that Canadian health care activities generated 33 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and over 200,000 tonnes of other pollutant emissions, resulting in 23,000 disability-adjusted life years lost annually.

To read the full paper, please click HERE.
WEBINARS: Green Hospital Scorecard

The Coalition will host it's first educational webinar to review the GHS survey and answer questions on how to submit your data. This webinar will also go over the new sections; Transportation, Food, Climate Change and Energy Behaviour in detail.

TOMORROW! Thursday, February 14 2019 at 12:00 PM – 1:00PM EST.
To register please follow this link or contact Linxi Mytkolli at linxi@greenhealthcare.ca 
 
With the generous support of save ON energy, we will also offer a separate webinar on Energy Behaviour - an introduction and overview.
Wednesday, February 20 2019 at 12:00 PM – 1:00PM EST. To register please follow this link or contact Linxi Mytkolli at linxi@greenhealthcare.ca 

EXTENDED - Call for nominations: Canadian College of Health Leaders Awards
Deadlines for nominations: February 22, 2019 at 5 PM EST 9 for team and organisation awards.


The Canadian College of Health Leaders’ Energy and Environmental Stewardship Award recognizes a progressive health care organisation that has implemented programs that demonstrate environmental responsibility through the reduction of energy usage, the preservation of natural resources and effective waste diversion solutions. To find out more information about the awards and to nominate an individual or an organisation, please CLICK here.

WEBINAR: Going plant-centered for patients and planet
Food production is a significant contributor to climate change, accounting for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Animal-based foods account for two-thirds of agricultural GHG emissions and more than three-quarters of agricultural land use, while plant-based foods have much lower environmental impacts.

This webinar will introduce the Cool Food Pledge, a new platform to help hospitals, universities, businesses, and cities offer diners more of what they want while slashing food-related greenhouse gas emissions. Learn how to participate in the Cool Food Pledge and how committing can benefit a facility’s triple bottom line.

WHEN: February 26, 2019 at noon - registration is FREE. For more information and to register, please click HERE.
ENERGY STAR ® Canada Awards nomination are open!
Between January 8 and March 1, 2019 ENERGY STAR ® Participants will be invited to apply for one or more awards. NRCan is excited to recognize the outstanding 2018 achievements in promoting ENERGY STAR ® certified products and new homes!

Please visit the Awards Page  for more information.

CHES 2019 Awards - Call for Nominations & Grant Submissions
CHES is seeking nominations for the 2019 Awards. Members are reminded to nominate a deserving member or facility for one of three prestigious awards!

  1. Hans Burgers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Healthcare Engineering
  2. Wayne McLellan Award of Excellence in Healthcare Facilities Management
  3. CHES Young Professional Grant

Applications are due April 30, 2019. For more information on the application process and the awards, please click HERE.
RCO presents Circular Procurement Summit
This June, the Recycling Council of Ontario is hosting an educational and transformational event. Canada’s first-ever Circular Procurement Summit is designed for municipalities, their provincial and federal counterparts, and the public sector and their suppliers at large.
The aim is to support and accelerate the transition to the circular economy through procurement.

By leveraging purchasing power, public health bodies can drive circular outcomes in their operations that produce savings, long-term value, and environmentally preferable options that benefits their organisations and patients.
 
Visit the summit website for more information.

The Green Digest was brought to you by ENERGY STAR ® Canada.

If you have inspirational greening stories or photos to share with Green Digest readers, please send them to Linxi at linxi@greenhealthcare.ca
Some articles referred to in the Digest make reference to services and/or product offerings from specific suppliers. The CCGHC recommends that readers research the service and product offerings available through a wider range of suppliers for comparison purposes and in keeping with public sector purchasing guidelines. These articles should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any product or service.