Ontario hospitals working to improve sustainability

Ontario hospitals and clinics are looking for opportunities to fight climate change in their buildings.

“We know that a healthy population requires a healthy planet, and we certainly are big infrastructure in terms of hospitals and clinics,” said Andrew Park, president of the Ontario Medical Association, on the Mike Farwell show on CityNews 570. “We just want to highlight that it’s important that we all do our part in this battle against climate change.”

Hospitals are taking some measures to improve sustainability. One of these is to shift away from using an anesthetic called desflurane which has a potent greenhouse impact.

“Our hospitals have really looked into if there is an opportunity to substitute with equal patient safety and effectiveness,” said Park. “A few hospitals in the province have gone to removing desflurane from their formula altogether and that’s been an important step.”

Hospitals have several stringent standards to ensure patient safety, but Park believes there are still plenty of opportunities to improve sustainability.

“We’ve come from an era where some of our gowns are disposable as opposed to being reused, the drapes that we use,” Park said.

In addition to that, hospitals are looking at ways to avoid using single-use medications when possible. In many cases, that isn’t doable, but it can still happen in certain situations.

The Ontario Medical Association has a medical interest group called Green is Health that works to ensure hospitals are accountable for their emissions.

It is up to each hospital to determine their practices, but Park said he’s seeing positive steps being taken.

“I’m hopeful that this is something that will gain momentum and highlight how we practice sustainable for future generations.”