April was Earth Month – a time for organizations, countries, governments and industries to evaluate their practices through the lens of environmental harm.

HealthPRO has spoken at length about sustainability in healthcare and how we must do more as an industry to promote best practices. We also know there is still much to be learned, both for HealthPRO as an organization and for the entire Canadian healthcare system. With this in mind,  HealthPRO decided to host Sustainability Rounds, a half-day summit on sustainability in healthcare, which included leading voices in the space, sharing knowledge, expertise and forward-thinking solutions to the predicament we find ourselves in.

More from HealthPRO on sustainability in healthcare

Environmental impact means Canada’s health sector harms as it heals Fostering sustainability in pharmacy: The time for action is now Sustainability and healthcare: How WESCO and Signify are proving these can be synonymous

 

As Marlene Habib stated for The Globe and Mail, “The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 has placed extreme strains on the system but it’s also fostered opportunities for change and innovation, industry members say.”

Habib is correct as the pandemic highlighted a great number of pre-existing conditions in healthcare that cause harm to our environment. The pandemic also taught us, as Neil Ritchie, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care stated, “… we can really focus our attention on addressing a major public health issue.”

“If we can put that focus on climate change and resilience, then there certainly are possibilities, but it’ll take a massive level of co-operation between the public and private sectors.”

Although there is much room for improvement, there are certainly things to celebrate – our members, for one.

HealthPRO member, University Health Network (UHN), is one organization leading the charge. In 2020 alone, UHN completed 47 environmental projects, including its Operation Green, which involved collecting expired or unused supplies and sending them to countries in need. Additionally, at its Toronto Western Hospital, UHN is beginning work on the world’s largest raw wastewater energy transfer (WAT) system, which uses thermal energy from wastewater to supply heating and cooling, reducing electricity and natural gas consumption.

“The bottom line is that climate change is a health-care issue and a health equity issue, and a health care sustainability issue, and the time to act is now,” said Edward Rubinstein, director of environmental compliance, energy and sustainability at UHN.

Another HealthPRO member doing its part to bolster sustainability and reduce its emissions is Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). The VCH network of hospitals and care facilities located throughout British Columbia are performing upgrades to improve infrastructure, like heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical, as well as building new technology to capture anesthetic gases (which also harm the environment). According to its 2020-2012 IMPACT Report, these updates have reduced emissions “from the equivalent of 290 cars to fewer than 10 cars.”

Are you a HealthPRO member or supplier with a sustainability story? We would love to help tell your story. Connect with us at marketing@healthprocanada.com to start the conversation.

Source: The Globe and Mail