Reusable personal protective equipment in Canadian healthcare: Safe, secure, and sustainable.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that was intentionally designed and manufactured as reusable, including gowns, goggles, face shields, and elastomeric respirators, took on a heightened role during the pandemic. Healthcare workers who had access to these products and infrastructure for cleaning and sterilizing them had a greater sense of confidence to undertake their jobs due to an increased sense of personal safety. Using multiple data sources, including a literature review, roundtables, interviews, surveys, and Internet-based research, the project team investigated the impact of disposable PPE and role of reusable PPE during the pandemic in Canada. This research supports the claim that adopting and supporting reusable PPE systems throughout the health sector can, if used appropriately on an ongoing basis, provide continuous access to reusable PPE while also contributing many co-benefits, including lower costs, domestic jobs, and improved environmental performance such as reduced waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care Leading the Evolution of Green.

Since 2000, a growing contingent of healthcare organizations, individuals and companies have embraced principles and practices of environmental stewardship with a focus on making health service delivery more environmentally sustainable. This article provides an overview of the sector's many successes, drawing upon both Coalition-sponsored initiatives and those initiated by its most engaged and forward-thinking stakeholders, many of whom are original signatories to Canada's Joint Position Statement: Toward an Environmentally Responsible Canadian Health Sector.

Climate change--how ready are you?

In an article that first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities magazine, Kent Waddington, communications director, and Linda Varangu, Executive Director, at the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and Peter Berry, senior policy analyst, and Jaclyn Paterson, environmental health specialist, at Health Canada, examine, in the light of the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, some of the latest thinking on the topic in Canada, and reflect on the initiatives taken by a number of the country's healthcare facilities to prepare for such incidents, and mitigate their impact.

Brandon RHA recognized for energy efficiency.

In a recent national competition recognizing leadership in energy efficiency and greenhouse gas education, Brandon Regional Health Authority was recognized for conscientious use of resources.