Healthcare and Climate Change: Do No Harm.
The increased frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change can cause casualties and put healthcare delivery at risk. Ironically, healthcare is a significant source of the very greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change. The Vancouver Island Health Authority case study shows the value of targets, energy management and innovation in new construction. Efforts have yielded great results to date with $2 million a year saved in utilities, and are nearing the target of reducing emissions by 33% below 2007 levels by 2020.
Director of the EEC Department for six years and was previously acting director and project manager for Facilities Maintenance and Operations and manager at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. Prior to working in healthcare, Deanna has over 20 years of experience as an applied science technologist in building mechanical consulting.
Deanna
D
Fourt
Graduated from the British Columbia Institute of Technology as an energy specialist and has been working in the healthcare sector since 2011. Claudette has been responsible for Greening Care initiatives at Island Health as well as energy studies and implementation of several greenhouse gas-reducing initiatives.
Claudette
C
Poirier
D002170:Canada; D058572:Carbon Footprint / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057231:Climate Change; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D006268:Health Facilities; D006801:Humans