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WEBINAR - Benchmarking for a Sustainable Future in Long-Term Care Homes and Retirement Homes
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care invites you to join us on May 30th for a one-hour webinar outlining our success in developing Canada’s new (and only) Long-Term Care Home (LTCH) and Retirement Home (RH) Scorecard for benchmarking environmental performance. The areas of focus include energy, waste, water, pollution prevention, policy and leadership, transportation, food and climate change.
Hear about the results of our pilot with LTCH's and RH's as well as watch a demonstration of the online benchmarking tool.
Learn about the benefits of benchmarking your facility, including examples of best practices to reduce energy consumption, and how this tool can support decision-makers in these sectors.
Date: May 30th, 2023
Time: 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST
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Zero Emission Vehicle Awareness Initiative Project Announcement
On May 17th, at the EV & Charging Expo 2023, Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources and to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announced an investment to support awareness and education projects..
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is investing nearly $5.9 million in 28 organisations to undertake zero-emission vehicle awareness and education projects.
The Coalition is honoured to be a recipient of the ZEVAI funding. Our new project will advance the ZEVAI's objective to increase public and industry awareness, knowledge and confidence in zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), particularly battery-powered micro-mobility (BPMM) solutions, as well as accelerate the adoption of these solutions by targeting the health and social services sector.
Learn more about our new project HERE.
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The Sustainable Perioperative Care playbook provides background information and implementation resources designed to address environmental sustainability in perioperative care.
The playbook goes beyond the operating room to consider perioperative care more broadly, including the ways in which upstream decisions impact the environmental footprint of care.
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Sustainable Perioperative Care playbook | |
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The Sustainable Perioperative Care playbook provides background information and implementation resources designed to address environmental sustainability in perioperative care.
The playbook goes beyond the operating room to consider perioperative care more broadly, including the ways in which upstream decisions impact the environmental footprint of care.
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Are you or someone you know a great fit for the CASCADES team? Learn more about the four open positions at the links below:
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Six steps health care industry can take to minimise impact on the environment
Omnia Health
Reducing the impact of health care on the environment is a particular concern in the United Arab Emirates as it prepares to host the global climate summit COP28 at Expo City Dubai later this year.
2023 has been named the Year of Sustainability. In line with that, health care groups are working towards improving sustainability and reducing health care’s environmental footprint.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an “environmentally sustainable health system” is one that “improves, maintains or restores health, while minimising negative impacts on the environment and leveraging opportunities to restore and improve it, to the benefit of the health and well-being of current and future generations.”
With this aspiration in mind, there are a number of steps the health care industry – and the individuals involved in it – can take to minimise its impact on the environment in this critical year.
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Learning to treat the climate emergency together: Social tipping interventions by the health community
The Lancet
Accelerating the decarbonisation of local and national economies is a profound public health imperative. As trusted voices within communities around the world, health professionals and health organisations have enormous potential to influence the social and policy landscape in support of decarbonisation.
Researchers assembled a multidisciplinary group of experts from six continents to develop a framework for maximising the social and policy influence of the health community on decarbonisation at different levels of society. They identify practical, learning-by-doing approaches and networks to implement this strategic framework.
Collectively, the actions of health care workers can shift practice, finance, and power in ways that can transform the public narrative and influence investment, activate socioeconomic tipping points, and catalyse the rapid decarbonisation needed to protect health and health systems.
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Food is Our Medicine
Canadian Society of Nutritional Management
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Today, not only are Indigenous food-ways all too often missing from the patient tray, but they are also often feared or forbidden.This is largely due to a lack of knowledge. But it is also the result of an explicit policy that started with Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, to stamp out what was "Indian" about Indigenous Peoples.
Confronting colonial legacies and realities in Canadian health care can feel daunting, but it can also be beautiful. Food in health care offers a powerful pathway to rebuild relationships, culture and connection with the land and with one another. Offering traditional and country foods in health care is reconciliation in action.
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RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software | |
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The world-leading RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software platform just surpassed 800,000 users globally and is growing at more than 40,000 new users each year.
The premium version of the software is used by many different types of organisations. However, there are three main customer segments that have emerged as subscribers for the professional mode of the software: 1) facility owners and operators; 2) service providers and facilitators; and 3) educators and researchers.
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Release of RETScreen® Version 9.0
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Version 9 of the RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software platform was released on October 13th, 2022 and is now available for download from the RETScreen website. This update has arrived with a number of salient new features to enhance the RETScreen experience!
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Lion Electric buses to power P.E.I relief centres in emergency
Electric Autonomy
School buses in Prince Edward Island have an additional use beyond transporting students.
The government of P.E.I. is collaborating with Lion Electric on a pilot project to use the province’s 82 LionC electric school buses to provide electricity to emergency community disaster relief centres in the event of a power outage.
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When will electric vehicle prices drop in Canada?
BNN Bloomberg
News of electric vehicle pricing cuts and ramped up production efforts have raised hopes that the sticker price could soon be within the budget of the average Canadian driver.
Experts say that it may be close to a decade before we see price parity between electric and traditional combustion-engine cars, but the landscape for EVs is changing quickly, with government incentives and increased manufacturing likely to help push down consumer costs.
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How heat pumps can benefit hospitals
Health Care Facilities Today
With the push for more energy efficient technologies becoming stronger, many hospitals are looking to implement new innovations.
A major contender for this is HVAC, as traditional HVAC systems (i.e., ones that use natural gas, propane or oil) tend to use quite a bit of energy. When providing heating and cooling to a potentially large facility like a hospital, there is going to be a lot of energy consumption.
A possible alternative to a traditional HVAC system is a heat pump.
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Foleshill Health Centre
Passivhaus Trust
Health estate makes up 4-5% of England's carbon footprint. Foleshill Health Centre in Coventry is the first NHS building to achieve Passivhaus certification, striving to redefine health centre design in the UK.
The award-winning building contributes to the NHS Carbon Footprint Plus ambitions, providing an affordable design framework that can be replicated at speed and scale across the whole of the NHS estate and the UK.
Although Foleshill Health Centre was designed to cater for the expected 10,000 patients in the local Coventry area, the brief was developed with greater ambitions in mind.
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EVENTS, TRAINING AND WEBINARS | |
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Planetary Health Menus
Join Nourish on June 15th at 12pm EST for a webinar celebrating the public launch of Planetary Health Menus!
Planetary Health Menus is Nourish’s newest action learning series with the goal to equip and mobilize 100+ hospitals by 2026 to shift their menus and sourcing to build health for people and planet.
At the upcoming webinar learn about the first three resources of Planetary Health Menus: Values'Based Procurement Primer, Sustainable Menu Guide and the edition, Coolfood.
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Canadian Plant-Based Nutrition Conference
Join Plant-Based Canada in person or virtually for their next conference at the Ontario Bar Association Conference Centre in downtown Toronto.
The conference will provide evidence-based education in the field of plant-based nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine for prevention and treatment of chronic disease. The theme this year is transformation, both at a systems level and personally.
Date: May 27th, 2023
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Creating your sustainable workplace plan: The power of you
GreenCare
Join Dr. Caroline Stigant and get inspired to become a climate champion in your area of clinical care.
The learning objectives for this session are to:
1. Learn of the local, regional, and international developments in Environmentally Sustainable Kidney Care
2. Learn principles and tips from Caroline’s pathway that hopefully will inspire you to become a climate champion in your area of clinical care
3. Form an approach for personal and professional actions on climate change using case example of kidney care.
Date: May 23rd
Time: 12 - 1 pm PST
Register HERE.
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Choosing Wisely in the Emergency Department
Choosing Wisely Canada
Emergency Departments (EDs) are one of the highest-volume areas of a hospital. What are commonly over-ordered tests and treatments in emergency settings? And how can we identify quality improvement approaches to reduce overuse in practice?
Dr. Lucas Chartier and Dr. Tahara Bhate will share how to apply quality improvement strategies in the ED and more broadly in hospital settings to free up resources and alleviate pressures.
Date: May 23rd
Time: 12 - 1 pm PST
Register HERE.
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Honouring Indigenous Climate Leadership
Canadian Climate Institute
To amplify and centre Indigenous voices at the cutting-edge of climate research and policy, the Canadian Climate Institute, in partnership with the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, will host a roundtable discussion on June 15 with the authors of three new case studies in our Indigenous Perspectives series.
These case studies showcase the work of Indigenous researchers, Knowledge Holders, water protectors, and community members and will be published on our webpage on June 12.
Date: June 15th
Time: 10am PST
Register HERE.
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RETScreen® is a Clean Energy Management Software system for energy efficiency, renewable energy and cogeneration project feasibility analysis as well as ongoing energy performance analysis.
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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.
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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. | | | | |
