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Cut the Carbon: Beyond the OR - Environmental Sustainability in Medical Imaging
Date: March 13, 2026
Time: 8:30 AM PT/11:30 AM ET
In this Cut the Carbon: Beyond the OR session, Dr. Maura Brown will examine the environmental impact of medical imaging, highlight effective low-carbon and low-waste strategies that support high-quality patient care, and identify meaningful opportunities for collaboration across health care teams.
Whether you work in imaging, clinical care, administration, or sustainability leadership, this webinar will provide actionable insights to help advance sustainable health care practices within medical imaging.
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Upcoming Conference -
Inter-Regional Forum for a Sustainable Healthcare
On April 30, SSE and its partners—the CHUM, the Canadian Coalition for an Ecological Health System, Accreditation Canada, and the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment—are organizing the Inter-Regional Forum for a Sustainable Health System at the CHUM Amphitheatre.
The Registration is open!
Expert voices from Canada, the United States, and Europe. Conferences, panels, and networking for the health and social services network.
Get $50 off with code PART-COALITION. Reserve your spot now!
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New Article - Indoor Air Rethink: Displacement Ventilation as a Keystone of Future Health Care Design
This article suggests that Canada’s health care building boom presents a rare opportunity to rethink hospital ventilation design.
Instead of relying on conventional overhead mixing ventilation—which dilutes contaminants and consumes large amounts of energy—it promotes a holistic, performance-based framework centered on displacement ventilation (DV). Combined with 100% outside air, radiant heating/cooling, and enhanced building envelopes, DV can lower energy use, cut carbon, improve infection control, and potentially reduce capital and operating costs.
This article was published in the Winter 2025/2026 edition of Canadian Healthcare Facilities, the official publication of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES).
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Webinar - Tools for Assessing Your Foundation’s Portfolio: Sustainable Investment Risks and Performance
Date: March 13, 2026
Time: 8:30 AM PT/11:30 AM ET
Led by Ayo Olatunji (CPA), Director of Responsible Investing, CMA Impact Inc., this session will give hospital foundation board members and investment committees insights on:
- How to ask meaningful questions about environmental and social performance
- Practical tools for assessing the overall sustainability of your portfolio
- How to understand and evaluate your portfolio’s carbon footprint
Health professionals are warmly invited to attend or share with their foundation teams.
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Course and Webinar Series on Ecosystem Approaches to Health
COPEH - Canada
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CHES National Awards – Call for Nominations
Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society
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Discover innovative and dynamic approaches for better understanding the multiple factors that influence health with an experienced, pan-Canadian team.
During this intensive course you will learn methods for carrying out research and interventions on issues at the nexus of health, ecosystems, equity and society.
The course is designed to build relationships that build resilience and promote well being.
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Do you know a CHES member or health care facility that has made an outstanding impact? Now is the time to recognize excellence in health care engineering and facilities management.
Let’s celebrate the leaders, innovators, and teams shaping the future of health care facilities across Canada.
Submit your nomination today and help recognize excellence within the CHES community. Nomination Deadline is April 30, 2026.
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Quality as a Catalyst to Achieve Environmentally Sustainable Health Care
BMJ Journals
The article argues that health care quality frameworks must integrate environmental sustainability to reduce health care’s ecological footprint while improving patient outcomes. The authors call for stronger alignment between quality improvement and sustainability efforts and propose several actionable recommendations for health care professionals. Suggesting that by embedding environmental considerations into quality domains, health systems can deliver high-value, patient-centred care that supports both population and planetary health.
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Turn Climate Risk into Action with the LIFE RESYSTAL User Guide
LIFE RESYSTAL
This User Guide provides an overview of LIFE RESYSTAL – a comprehensive European framework designed specifically to strengthen climate resilience in hospitals and health systems. It introduces the project’s objectives, tools, and results in plain language, making it easy to understand and apply, even for those new to climate adaptation.
The guide highlights practical solutions that health care organisations can use today to protect patients, staff, infrastructure, and essential services in a changing climate.
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Decentering Desflurane: A Climate Action Success Story
Choosing Wisely Canada
Desflurane is one of the most common anesthetic gases and has been used in surgical procedures around the world for decades. It is completely safe for patients, but in recent years research has shown that it contributes heavily to rising global temperatures.
In December 2024, Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province in Canada to officially discontinue the purchase of desflurane and move to more environmentally sustainable alternatives.
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Mobilizing Nursing Leadership for Planetary Health: Preparing the Health Care Workforce for a Warming World
Longwoods.com
Nursing roles are expanding to include advocacy for planetary health, with educational programs working to equip nurses for climate-responsive practice.
This commentary presents examples of nursing leadership in climate resilience and calls on health care organisations to leverage the profession's capacity to lead efforts integrating planetary health into sustainable, climate-resilient patient care.
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Taking the Bite Out of Tooth Pain: A toolkit on using antibiotics wisely for managing tooth pain in adults.
Choosing Wisely Canada
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Antimicrobial resistance is recognized as one of the top ten global public health threats by the World Health Organization. In Canada, the proportion of infections resistant to antimicrobials is anticipated to increase from 26% in 2018 to 40% by 2050. Additionally, in 2021, nearly 73.6%, of the total antimicrobial consumption in Canada consisted of antibiotics from groups commonly prescribed for tooth pain, exceeding the World Health Organization’s country specific target benchmark of 60%.
The focus of this toolkit is on managing tooth pain and determining when it is appropriate to prescribe antibiotics. The guidance in this toolkit applies to adult patients, including those with medical complexity, who are capable of producing an immune response to a bacterial challenge.
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Cost and Affordability of Plant-Based Diets: Global Evidence From 2000 to 2025
Academia Nutrition and Dietetics
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This review synthesizes global evidence showing that plant-based diets (PBDs), especially those based on whole foods, are generally more affordable than conventional omnivorous diets, with lower food expenditures in many contexts. Savings mainly come from eliminating expensive animal products, though costs vary by region, socioeconomic status, and reliance on processed plant-based foods.
Despite empirical affordability, many consumers—particularly in high-income countries—perceive PBDs as costly, highlighting a need for education and policy measures to promote sustainable, affordable dietary patterns.
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Discover a New Case Study - Central Delivery System
CASCADE
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This case study highlights the Dialysis Management Clinics transition from using single-use plastic acid jugs to a central acid delivery system (CDS). A sustainability initiative that aimed to reduce acid concentrate waste and plastic waste.
Read the case study to learn more about the process of retrofitting a CDS, the amount of plastic waste saved and the associated cost savings.
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Building Envelopes Emerge As Key Facility Components
Healthcare Facilities Today
| Healthcare facility building envelopes are now seen as strategic elements, not just protective shells. Early design choices about walls, roofs and glazing significantly influence energy efficiency, comfort, resilience and lifecycle costs. Improved air-moisture control, climate-adapted materials and performance analysis help reduce energy use, enhance patient/staff comfort, and support sustainability and long-term operational goals. | | |
SusQI Showcase 2026
Date: May 21, 2026
Time: 8:30 AM - 11 AM ET
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is hosting a BIGGER and BOLDER annual showcase, sharing the wonderful work of their partners who are using SusQI as a tool for improving patient outcomes whilst minimising negative environmental impact, adding social value and often saving money!
Register here.
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Nutritious and Delicious: Better Bites, Better Outcomes
Date: March 24, 2026
Time: 10:30 AM PT/
1:30PM ET
Across Canada, we’re seeing the same challenges again and again: hospital-based malnutrition, unhealthy eating patterns, food insecurity, and a growing burden of food-related chronic disease. All while we know that food can be a powerful intervention for health and well-being. This session will explore how to close this value–action gap.
Register here.
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Choosing Wisely in Pharmacy
Date: March 11, 2026
Time: 9 AM PT/ 12 PM ET
Join Choosing Wisely Talks for a discussion on the pharmacist’s role in reducing unnecessary and potentially harmful medication use. This session will introduce the new STARS (Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship) program for pharmacy students and highlight how student leaders are advancing resource stewardship within their schools.
Register here.
| | BC Rural Health Conference 2026 | |
Date: May 29 -31, 2026
Location: Prince George Conference and Civic Centre
This conference focuses on the unique opportunities and challenges of rural practice. It provides education and connection within the rural health community. It is intended for rural health professionals and others interested in rural practice to learn, connect, and collaborate.
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Have you registered as an organ donor?
Contact your local organ donation agency and speak to your family about your wishes. You have the power to save and transform lives. Learn more and register to donate HERE.
| | The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is Canada’s premier green health care resource network, leading the evolution of green in Canada’s health sector as a national voice and catalyst for environmental change. www.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. | | | | |
