Health Care in Canada: Greening Up the Canadian Health Care System

St. Mary’s Hospital became the second hospital in North America to achieve ISO 14001 registration, the first being Cambridge Memorial Hospital in a neighboring city. St. Mary’s is now diverting over half of its waste from landfill, including 302 tonnes of glass, cans, plastics, cardboard, chemicals, food waste, batteries, computer cartridges and electronic equipment. Recent additions to the building consume 26.5 percent less energy. Staff are encouraged to carpool, bike or bus to and from work, and a landscape management plan has been designed to eliminate pesticides from hospital property.

In Canada, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care has a number of programs designed to help the sector make changes. Among its initiatives is a Green Hospital Checklist, which provides guidelines for putting sustainable design concepts into practice in healthcare construction projects. The coalition is a good example of environmental organizations working with the major national health care groups and health care facilities and institutions. It has partnered with the Ontario Hospital Association to develop an environmental awards program, an online information service and education sessions.

One of the leaders in the charge to phase out harmful products and practices is Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition of over 440 organizations in more than 50 countries dedicated to making health care facilities ecologically sustainable. Members include hospitals and health care systems, medical professionals, community groups, health-affected constituencies, labor unions, environmental and environmental health organizations and religious groups.

Their work, along with pressure from the public and patients, has resulted in some big changes to the tradition of low-grade, tasteless and nutritionally deficient hospital food. Hospitals are taking steps like ejecting fast food outlets from their premises; purchasing milk produced without bovine growth hormone, and poultry and meat produced without antibiotics. They are supporting local communities by hosting farmers’ markets and sourcing local and organic produce, as well as fair trade products such as coffee.

We should all be proud that Canada is one of the world leaders moving towards minimizing the unfavorable environmental and human health impact of our health care system

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