A family physician who assessed the size of a Vancouver hospital’s “ecological footprint” says her findings show that hospitals have a “huge” impact on the environment. The footprint is a calculation of how much land is needed to support the consumption of resources and production of waste by a person, nation or other entity. Dr. Susan Germaine determined that the Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver has an ecological footprint covering at least 2841 hectares — 739 times its actual size. The city of Vancouver’s footprint is 180 times its total area.
Germaine, a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), conducted the assessment for her thesis in environmental science. She says her estimate is conservative because there is no way to gauge the total impact of toxins, chemicals, new medical equipment and supplies used at the hospital.
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Despite these limitations, Germaine says the notion of a footprint provides a clear illustration of hospitals’ environmental impact and allows comparisons among facilities and over time.
For example, the hospital uses 1.75 million pairs of gloves per year — 8.2 pairs per patient per day. “Who knows how many gloves are used across Canada,” says CAPE chair Dr. Trevor Hancock. “It’s an apt symbol of the problem. We have to ask ourselves: ‘Is there a way of reducing this and maintaining safety?’ ”
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The footprint experiment is featured in North America’s most comprehensive report on the greening of health care, Doing less harm: assessing and reducing the environmental and health impact of Canada’s health care system. It was funded by Health Canada and published by the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (www.greenhealthcare.ca), a group of 12 health and environmental organizations, including the CMA. The report documents the impact of hospitals’ solid and liquid wastes and air emissions on the environment (see page 354) and looks at ways to reduce the impact.
The coalition is lobbying governments to help hospitals switch to more environmentally friendly practices. Hancock thinks most health care institutions will “be green” within 5 years. “There’s growing awareness, but the bigger challenge will be to get people to appreciate the economic, legal, community and health benefits of going green.”
Copies of Doing less harm are available for $10 from ten.bew@aet.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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