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The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has won international recognition for its leadership in climate change and was recently awarded Gold status in the 2020 Challenge Climate Champion Awards 1 as part of Health Care Without Harm's Global Green and Healthy Hospitals initiative.
From Sweden to New Zealand, Costa Rica to South Africa and the Americas, health care facilities and sector organisations such as the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care are leading the transformation to climate smart, resilient health care around the globe. By using their innovation, ingenuity, investments, and voice, they are reducing their climate footprint, developing low-carbon models of care, adapting to stand resilient to a changing climate, and advocating for policies to protect the future health of the planet.
"We are excited to be recognized for our hard work and commitment to health care’s climate change resiliency." says Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care Executive Director Linda Varangu. "We are honoured to stand with so many amazing Canadian organisations likewise committed to climate change mitigation, resiliency and leadership within Canada's health services sector."
A Canadian environmental not-for-profit founded in 2000, the Coalition was honoured for leading the development and implementation of the Health Care Climate Change Resiliency Toolkit, developed with support from Health Canada. The online toolkit's Facilitator's Guide introduces the Toolkit and guides users through a suggested approach to resiliency assessments; an Assessment Checklist helps organisations determine their level of resiliency, and the Practices Resource Guide provides additional benefit.
The Checklist helps guide questions within a health organisation's practices in several key areas such as emergency management, facilities management, health care services, food service and supply chain management. Completion of the assessment by staff with knowledge and experience in the target areas will increase awareness and inform resiliency activities to reduce climate change risks for the organisation and its infrastructure.
Tested in pilot facilities across Canada and developed with the assistance of a panel of expert reviewers, the Toolkit is now being used by the Coalition as part of a recently launched Climate Change Resiliency Mentoring Program undertaken with funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario. The Toolkit recognizes the many environmental sustainability initiatives that are also complementary to climate change resiliency, including energy efficiency and conservation.
Potential outcomes include identification of current climate change-related risks, understanding the current state of preparedness, learning how to become better prepared to withstand climate change impacts, benchmarking progress against self and others, and contributing to the national conversation on climate change resiliency within Canada's health services sector.
Joining the Coalition as fellow Canadian award winners are:
· British Columbia's Provincial Health Services Authority (Gold- Climate Leadership), and Vancouver Coastal Health (Silver - GHG Reduction - Energy),
· Québec's Synergie Santé Environnement (Silver - Climate Leadership), and,
· Toronto's University Health Network (Gold - Climate Leadership, Gold -Climate Resiliency)
For more information on this Toolkit and how to engage your facility, please visit http://greenhealthcare.ca/green-office-toolkit/ andhttp://greenhealthcare.ca/mentoring or contact Linda Varangu atLinda@greenhealthcare.ca.
