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The Green Office Challenge | |
The Coalition, PEACH Health Ontario and the HFHT Green Team, with sponsorship from HP, are still accepting submissions to our Green Office Challenge!
This is your chance to evaluate your practice, discover new ways to make your office more sustainable, and gain recognition for your achievements.
We encourage all offices, regardless of where you are on your sustainability journey, to participate in the questionnaire. Along with our Green Office Toolkit, the questionnaire is a tool to help you learn and implement greener practices while contributing to a more sustainable future.
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Welcome to our new series, Advisors' Corner, where we explore what inspires our advisors to champion sustainability in health care. They share their insights on the most impactful changes the sector can make, as well as the barriers and opportunities on the path to a greener future.
In this instalment, Dr. Zahra Kassam emphasizes the urgent need for a sustainable plant-based food system to address global health and environmental crises. She highlights how current food production drives biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, and the rise of chronic diseases, while disproportionately
impacting marginalized communities.
Dr. Kassam advocates for a shift in health care, where plant-based nutrition is integrated into medical education, clinical practice, and public health campaigns. She cites
evidence from studies and global guidelines, including the EAT-Lancet Commission, showing that plant-based diets can improve human health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote planetary sustainability.
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Welcoming the New CHES President | |
We are pleased to welcome Jim McArthur as the new President of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES), succeeding Craig Doerksen, who has expertly led CHES over the past two years. Jim is the first representative from the long-term care sector to assume this role, and we at the Coalition wish him every success in this important position.
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An introduction to environmental racism for nurses course
CANE
This dynamic short course is designed to empower nurses across Canada with essential knowledge on the critical issues of environmental racism and environmental justice.
By incorporating storytelling, and land-and-arts-based activities, this course aims to foster empathy and critical reflection so that nurses will not only gain insight into the systemic injustices perpetuating and perpetuated by environmental racism but also develop strategies to advocate for equitable health outcomes for all communities.
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Call for submissions - Canadian Healthcare Facilities fall issue
CHES
The Fall 2024 issue of CHES's journal, Canadian Healthcare Facilities (CHF), is currently seeking article submissions related to the following topics: Facility Management & Design and Sustainable Healthcare.
If you are interested in submitting an article, please contact the journal's Editor, Clare Tattersall, at claret@mediaedge.ca with the proposed topic.
All topics must be pre-approved by the Editor prior to article submission. The deadline for final article submissions is October 7th, 2024.
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National Awards Program
Canadian College of Health Leaders
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Recognize and promote your outstanding leaders and programs! The Canadian College of Health Leaders is inviting nominations for the 2025 National Awards Program. The awards recognize the importance of leadership, commitment and performance.
This is a great opportunity to recognize and promote the outstanding leaders and programs in your organisation. Award recipients will be recognized during the College’s 2025 Honouring Health Leadership event. The date and format of this celebration will be announced later this year.
The nomination period for the Individual Awards is:
October 1st, 2024 to November 30th, 2024
The nomination period for Team and Organisational Awards is:
October 1st, 2024 to February 1st, 2025
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Healthier behaviours may prevent millions of cancer cases annually
The Nation's Health
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Greater adherence to healthy behaviors could reduce cancer rates in the U.S. by almost half, a July study finds.
Published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the research found that behaviors such as alcohol use, physical inactivity and poor dietary choices are responsible for 40% of the 1.9 million U.S. cancer cases diagnosed each year. They are also linked to almost half of the more than 600,000 annual cancer deaths among people ages 30 and older.
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Alberta Health Services wins Wayne McLellan Award of Excellence
Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society
Congratulations to Calgary’s The Summit: Marian & Jim Sinneave Centre for Youth Resilience on winning the 2024 Wayne McLellan Award at the recent Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society award’s ceremony in Halifax.
Sponsored by Honeywell, the award recognizes a hospital or long-term care facility that has demonstrated outstanding success in completion of a major capital project, energy efficiency program, environmental stewardship program, or team building exercise.
Accepting the award from Honeywell’s National Business Development Manager Michael Pringle, Beverly Wilson, Senior Project Manager at Alberta Health Services.
Designed and built to provide mental health services for children and youth, The Summit offers therapeutic support through a day hospital and community-based treatment. It also provides walk-in services for anyone under 18 years of age and their family who would like to speak with a counsellor.
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Announcing Winners of the IHF Awards 2024
International Hospital Federation
On 11 September 2024, the IHF held its annual Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner to celebrate excellence in hospital and health care leadership.
The exemplary work of hospitals from 23 countries and territories was recognized for initiatives that improve the level, quality, and sustainability of health care service delivery. The IHF Awards promote the exchange of good practices in key areas of health care leadership, environmental sustainability, and innovation. Finalists were selected across the seven Award categories and earned Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards as well as honourable mentions in each category.
Congratulations to all of the winners and a special shout out to St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton for winning the Silver Seddiqi Holding Excellence Award for Social and Environmental Responsibility – acknowledging excellence or outstanding achievements in advancing social and environmental responsibility.
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Retrofit of affordable Seniors' apartments aims for deep carbonization
The Atmospheric Fund
The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) and Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) are pleased to announce a deep, multi-measure retrofit of 575 Danforth Road, a seniors’ apartment building with 16 units in Toronto’s Birchmount Park neighbourhood.
Built in 1958, this low-rise building retrofit is the most ambitious project undertaken by TAF or TCHC to date, targeting an 80 per cent reduction in carbon intensity.
Goals for the building include EnerPHit certification, which is the Passive House standard for retrofits. The innovative design plan includes fuel-switching to electric heat pumps for efficient heating and cooling as well as the installation of prefabricated envelope overcladding.
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Decarbonizing Hospital Buildings Guidebook
ASHRAE/ASHE
Rising energy and resource costs alongside the increasing impact of climate change on health care facilities have led professionals in the field to embrace sustainable infrastructure. To help guide this effort, ASHRAE’s Task Force for Building Decarbonization and the American Society for Health Care Engineering have developed Decarbonizing Hospital Buildings, a guide focused on the design, construction and operation of decarbonized new hospital buildings and major renovations.
Intended for stakeholders in the design, construction, and operation of hospital buildings, this indispensable resource provides actionable insights into procuring environmental attributes and implementing effective offsets.
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Eight steps towards sustainable construction
Iberdrola
The Iberdrola page on energy efficiency in buildings highlights how improving energy use in buildings can reduce consumption, lower emissions, and optimize energy management.
It covers various strategies, such as using energy-efficient materials, adopting smart technologies, and enhancing insulation. The article also discusses the role of renewable energy in powering buildings and the importance of regulations and certifications like LEED. Energy-efficient buildings are vital in the transition to a more sustainable future.
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Financial assistance for ISO 50001 in commercial and institutional buildings
Natural Resources Canada
NRCan is accepting project proposals from organisations looking to improve the energy efficiency in their buildings (for the year 2025-26). Submit your project proposal by October 21, 2024.
Funding is available to help commercial and institutional building owners and operators implement the ISO 50001 energy management systems standard.
Organisations implementing ISO 50001 in their buildings save energy and money while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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Version 9.1 of the RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software platform 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!
One of the latest features is an automated Net Zero Planning Tool which further enables portfolio-wide decarbonization planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting – all available within one single multilingual platform. Learn more about the new tool HERE.
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EVENTS, TRAINING AND WEBINARS | |
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GreenCare Lunch & Learn - Green Teams in the Spotlight: Sustainability in action
GreenCare
Date: October 3rd, 2024
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm ET
Green teams are uniquely positioned to catalyze change toward climate
resilient and environmentally sustainable health care provision.
Join GreenCare on October 3rd to hear from a panel of three BC green team representatives whose teams support climate resilient and environmentally sustainable care.
You’ll hear an array of perspectives and experiences from a sustainability coordinator who supports an organiational
green teams framework (IH), a green team champion (IH), a working group lead (PHC) and a green team sponsor (ISLH).
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Recipes for change: Food infrastructures for planetary health
CASCADES
Date: October 31st, 2024
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm ET
Healthy food and food systems are important ingredients for direct and indirect improvements to patient, public and ecosystem health. Planning, designing, and delivering food infrastructures to support planetary health means aligning what we truly value with how we value and measure it.
Join the authors of the Food Infrastructures for Planetary Health playbook for a webinar exploring the ways that planetary health can be integrated as a key consideration in decision-making. You will also hear from individuals across Canada working to transform the food systems within their health systems.
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Greening Healthcare Annual Forum
Date: November 4th, 2024
Time: 8:00am-6:00pm ET
Location: Delta Hotels by Marriott Toronto
Climate change is accelerating, with hospitals on the front line of climate action. The 2030 emissions reduction targets are getting closer, and every hospital has its contribution to make to lowering emissions.
Join the conversation with health care leaders on November 4th to learn the latest trends, the urgency to act, and the practical steps you can take now to reduce your carbon footprint while planning for the energy transition.
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Colloque SSE 2024
Date: November 13th, 2024
Time: 8:00am-5:00pm ET
Location: CHUM | AUDITORIUM Pierre-Péladeau
This eco-responsible event is organized by Synergie Santé Environnement in collaboration with the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). In-person seating is limited. The event will also be broadcast, in part, on Zoom.
Some of the themes that will be covered in include: Adaptation and mitigation, tools and concrete actions, responsible sourcing and innovations, Biodiversity and greening, carbon neutrality and sustainable development, waste reduction and eco-design and more!
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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.
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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. | | | | |
