“Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you will be able to see further. ”
– Thomas Carlyle
|
|
The Coalition Announces 2018 Green Hospital Scorecard Survey coming soon!
|
|
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is pleased to announce the opening of the 2018 Green Hospital Scorecard survey soon. We are excited to debut the newly improved survey - stay tuned for more information!
To discuss the improvements to the survey, the Coalition will be offering a free informational webinar on the GHS program. This webinar will be a FREE one-hour session that review how to submit data for this year's Green Hospital Scorecard survey. The webinar will review navigating, saving, and sharing the survey, and will conclude with a question and answer period. The webinar will be free to attend and will also be recorded as a resource for hospitals throughout the GHS data call for 2018.
Stay tuned for a sign up link - updates will also be continuously posted on the
GHS website.
|
Stress Testing the Capacity of Health Systems to Manage Climate Change-Related Shocks and Stresses
Congratulations to one of our colleagues at the Climate Change and Innovation Bureau, (Health Canada), Peter Berry for his newest publication in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health! Read below for the paper abstract and for a link to download.
Abstract: Vulnerability and adaptation assessments can provide valuable input to foster
climate-resilient health systems. However, these assessments often do not explore the potential health risks of climate change far outside the range of recent experience with extreme weather events and other climate-related hazards. Climate and health stress tests are designed to increase the capacity of health systems and related sectors to manage potentially disruptive climate-related shocks and stresses. Stress tests focus on hypothetical scenarios, during which it would be difficult for the health system to maintain its essential function of providing services to protect population health. The stress test explores approaches to effectively manage acute and chronic climate-related events and conditions that could directly impact health systems, and climate-related events in non-health sectors that can indirectly impact health outcomes and/or health system function. We provide detailed methods and guidance for conducting climate and health stress tests, centering on three primary activities: (1) preparing and scoping the stress test; (2) successfully conducting the stress test; and (3) communicating the results to key stakeholders to facilitate policy and programmatic reforms.
|
Halifax hospital to start serving "restaraunt-style" food to patients
Patients at the largest regional hospital serving the Atlantic Provinces will soon benefit from an innovative room service food model that will see hot, fresh food prepared and delivered on demand via on-unit kitchens. The menu will consist of up to 30 choices from which patients can order - this will ensure that patients eating preferences and needs can be met simultaneously.
The idea to implement the program at the QEII Health Sciences Centre’s Halifax Infirmary site grew from a 2014
national study conducted by the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force. It found that 45 per cent of Canadians were arriving in hospital malnourished, and 47 per cent were actually leaving the hospital and going home malnourished.
|
FREE Mind Map on embodied carbon!
The carbon that’s emitted when we produce materials and construct our buildings is finally getting the attention it deserves. BuildingGreen President Nadav Malin was so inspired by the breadth of activities suddenly going on in the embodied carbon space, that he decided to lay them out in a mind map. Browse the map to find updated information and resources on everything you may be wondering about embodied carbon!
|
BC Lower Mainland Health publishes 6th annual sustainability report
The report has been compiled by the
Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Team (EES) (a service line of the Lower
Mainland Facilities Management), which
serves the four health care organizations in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland: Fraser
Health, Providence Health Care, Provincial Health Services Authority, and Vancouver
Coastal Health (referred to collectively as the Lower Mainland Health Care Organizations
or LMHOs).
The EES Team conducts research, develops programs, guidelines and policies, and oversees collaborative approaches and processes related to energy and environmental sustainability for the four LMHOs. Their goal is to reduce the environmental impacts and increase the resilience of their health care facilities.
"Just as we recognize that health is not simply the absence of disease, we are striving to go beyond simply reducing negative environmental impacts by seeking solutions that restore, renew, and revitalize environmental health across our local and regional communities."
|
|
Greener hospitals, healthier communities: Why NHS anchor institutions should prioritize environmental sustainability
The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change brings together doctors, nurses and other health professionals to advocate for responses to climate change that protect and promote health. Its membership comprises many Medical and Nursing Royal Colleges, Faculties of Health, the British Medical Association, the British Medical Journal, and the Lancet.
This past month, they published their most recent report which discusses how the NHS can drive positive economic, social and environmental outcomes through changing how it employs, procures, and uses land and other assets, as well as how it travels and burns carbon. This potential is particularly high at a local level where hospitals and other healthcare sites act as ‘anchor institutions’ – by being physically located within a community, their activities have a significant impact upon social, economic and environmental outcomes within the local area.
To read more about their specific policy recommendations and the rest of the report,
please click HERE.
|
|
Redefining healthcare with design of the green hospital
The design of eco-friendly, energy-efficient, green construction projects has been gaining attention in all quarters, from the construction of private homes, office buildings, to large buildings such as hospital complexes. In the health sector, the so-called “Green Hospital” is a concept that is beginning to redefine how healthcare facilities are built to protect the environment while saving human lives.
In a typical healthcare center, lighting, water heating, and space heating account for more than 65% of the energy consumption. Therefore, it remains essential for the construction of healthcare facilities to involve incorporation of green designs and concepts into the process to reduce the impact on the environment, cut down operational costs, and increase energy efficiency.
This article highlights several initiatives by hospitals in the United States that not only help meet LEED requirements, but have also helped these institutions improve the quality of patient experience.
|
|
ACEEE identifies top barriers to zero energy building adoption
Building code updates in parts of the US and Canada are helping to encourage the development of zero energy buildings coast-to-coast that produce at least as much energy as they consume. However, barriers to successful adoption remain, according to a new white paper from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
Author Christopher Perry, senior analyst in the ACEEE’s Buildings Program, wrote that the future is bright for zero energy building codes, as examples from British Columbia, Oregon, and California show. Several states are incorporating zero-energy construction into long-range plans. At the same time, getting adoption on a national scale will require substantial effort.
Perry identifies these top barriers to zero energy buildings (ZEBs):
- The perception that zero energy buildings require only the addition of solar energy. That “solar-energy” mindset focuses on adding solar to a building without considering energy efficiency, Perry explained in a blog post. ZEBs that lack efficiency generally cost more and miss out on benefits such as better comfort and resilience.
- Pitting onsite solar against community solar. “ZEBs and community storage do not need to be an “either/or” proposition,” Perry wrote. “We can still pursue ZEBs now, and both onsite and community generation can co-exist in a clean energy future.”
- Lack of interest in energy-efficient or zero energy buildings. “ZEB advocates can overcome this barrier by developing code-improvement proposals and supporting voluntary programs that encourage and support ZEB construction,” Perry suggests.
|
|
Tackling air pollution, climate change and NCDs: time to pull together
Air pollution, climate change, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are three linked threats to planetary health that share common origins and joint solutions. Yet efforts to address these problems have too often moved down separate paths.
This newly published article in the Lancet discusses the first Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, and its “Call for Urgent Action” in which national and local leaders, representatives of civil society, and other participants will be asked to set targets and timetables for reducing deaths from air pollution by 2030 as a contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
|
|
WEBINAR: Transforming hospital food towards a more sustainable future
|
|
Session date: Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Starting time: 4:00 pm, Europe Time (Brussels, GMT+01:00)
Duration:1 hour
This webinar will highlight the challenges and opportunities around the co-development of a food hospital vision where the value of food is recognized in its broad sense. Furthermore, this webinar will explore the opportunities to work with your organisation, suppliers and key policy stakeholders to get more value from procurement, design your menus, and measure patient expectation. With this interactive webinar we would like to inspire other hospitals and health centres to start building a food culture that prioritizes health and well-being along with sustainability, and to have a constructive debate.
To register, please click the image above! This webinar is free to attend.
|
|
WEBINAR: Clean Production Action at CHNEE
Session date: Wednesday, November 21st 2018
Starting time: 1:00PM EST
Duration: 1 hour
Beverley Thorpe is presenting on various aspects of Clean Production Action (CPA) at a CNHHE Webinar on November 21 at 1:00 PM EST. Join the webinar to learn about Green Screen, BizNGO, and the Chemical Footprint Project, all with the CPA’s goals to “…design and deliver strategic solutions for green chemicals, sustainable materials and environmentally preferable products”.
|
|
Call for nominations: Canadian College of Health Leaders Awards
Deadlines for nominations: November 30, 2018 for the 4 individual awards, and February 1, 2019 for team and organization awards.
For almost two decades, the National Awards Program (held by the Canadian College of Health Leaders) has been showcasing the success of exemplary individuals and teams, encouraging knowledge exchange, and celebrating excellence while stimulating replication of leading practices across the health industry. The awards recognize the importance of leadership, commitment and performance.
The program boasts 16 awards honouring leaders in healthcare, including senior executives, emerging leaders, administrative and operational teams, nurses, students and more. To find out more information about the awards and to nominate an individual or an organization, please see below!
|
|
Lancet Countdown: Tracking progress on health and climate change
Date: November 29th 2018
Location: York University, Toronto
The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change is an international research collaboration dedicated to tracking the world's response to climate change and how it affects global health. Reporting annually in The Lancet, it follows a series of indicators, demonstrating that this transition is possible, that it has already begun, but that more work is needed.
You and your colleagues are invited to attend the launch of the 2018 edition of the Canada-specific report that will focus in on some key indicators that are particularly relevant in the Canadian context:
- Heat-related public health emergencies;
- Mortality rates related to air pollution from coal and other contributors;
- Health benefits of a strong, predictable price on carbon;
- Trends in media coverage of climate change and health; and
- Impact of climate change on mental health.
For more information on this free event and to RSVP, please click below.
|
|
WEBINAR: Managing organincs - options, successes, and challenges
Date:
Thursday November 29th, 2018
Time:
11:30AM EST -1:30PM EST
The Canadian Coalition for Green Heath Care (CCGHC) and the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO) are pleased to announce the second in our series of collaborative webinars that examines resource efficiency and waste reduction in Canada’s health care sector.
This webinar has been proudly sponsored by: “Power Knot”, represented by the Solution Foodservice Group in Canada.
Join us as we highlight hospitals’ efforts to reduce and divert food waste on-site, and how it benefits the facility. We also feature three hospitals from across Canada for direct insight on their food waste reduction and diversion experiences:
- the type of food waste generated, sorted, and diverted;
- strategies to divert food waste, including costs and supplies being used;
- what measures must be in place to divert food waste;
- the role of the hospital in the diversion program; and
- how to get buy-in from management.
Please
click HERE to register and reply to this email with any questions you may have about the event.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
