GREEN HOSPITALS:
(part 1)
HISTORY AND CURRENT SITUATION
We are a group of doctors with different specialties who come together for a common interest: to assume the commitment to support and build with our proposals a cared for and habitable ecosystem for today and future generations.
Our vision is in line with the concept of SUSTAINABILITY and Health must join this change.
HISTORY:
For 25 years there have already been solutions that contribute to reducing the carbon footprint by providing answers at the hospital level.
We find isolated experiences in Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia for example
In Argentina we have been applying sustainability in health in some private hospitals, achieving the first advances on the subject.
These experiences began with waste management and the digitization of complementary studies, especially in the implementation of electronic medical records and emergencies.
CURRENT PROBLEM
The contribution of historical references on local hospitals shows us that the building state in which the healthcare institutions are located (Public, Private and Social Security) do not have adequate infrastructure that is friendly to patients and the environment.
These sectors have inadequate behavior in their management, in line with the absence of comprehensive long-term health policies and lack of financing. An example of this is the polyconsultation of patients in different sectors where the health team is unaware of what was done in the previous place.
This generates loss of time, resources and delay in diagnosis.
Digitization and the creation of a comprehensive network as an immediate action is one of the most effective and economical solutions.
All this in a framework of centuries-old buildings with weak infrastructures that do not adapt to the dynamic changes in this era.
In short, the health provider does not achieve adequate efficiency.
HOSPITAL:
“It is the axis of a shared concern. The contribution of ideas and simple solutions aimed at our work space.”
WHAT IS A GREEN HOSPITAL?
The definition of a Green Hospital is the concept of an institution that provides Health Without Harm to the environment and incorporates aspects such as:
• RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES (Energy and Water)
The aim is to have a positive impact by reducing the climate footprint in the field of health. Water and energy are essential resources where efficiency translates into economic savings at all levels.
Misuse of Energy: faucets that are left open, lights on in sectors that are not used, etc., are situations that can be solved with a Continuing Education program in Sustainable Green Management.
Each resource will require continuous stock monitoring and comparison with costs in each case.
There are entities that have joined the Sustainable concept for a few years, and constantly maintain and improve it in each area.
• IMPLEMENTING ELECTROMOBILITY
Its use reduces polluting emissions and exposure to them.
Energy savings facilitate the transition to the global goal of zero emissions, to which are added the fiscal/economic benefits.
• WASTE MANAGEMENT, POLLUTION REDUCTION
Reduce, treat and safely dispose of hospital waste and its surpluses, controlling, among other things, the management of packaging, pharmacological substances and the reduction of the use of toxic chemicals.
Final Objective: promote concrete actions on climate matters.
• EFFICIENT PURCHASES
Achieve a process of adequate satisfaction of hospital needs with less environmental impact, including the concept of Green Purchasing.
It is necessary to take into account safer and more sustainable products and materials, ideally achieving the self-production of healthy and cultivable foods in a sustainable way (Organic Gardens).
• BUILDING REFORM IN A BIOPHILICAL WAY
Final path with the integration of previous concepts adapted to the environment.
SYNTHESIS:
To reduce the environmental footprint of the health sector, we propose the transformation and/or design of health institutions into “green hospitals” so that they become a community reference point in sustainability and positioning as leaders of the global environmental movement.
CONCLUSION:
Having presented the problem in this way, let’s move on to generate specific responses as solutions to these situations.
Let us keep in mind that they must be dynamic, in relation to the new tools born within sustainability.
We urgently need a building reform that can incorporate changes that involve biophilia, clean and renewable energy, saving resources, their reuse and technology assembling the concepts of:
GREEN HOSPITAL, SUSTAINABLE HOSPITAL, SMART HOSPITAL, AND DIGITAL HOSPITAL.
“Politics based on Health and not Health based on Policy.”
A Green Hospital is an efficient building because it uses energy, water and materials better.
To conclude, the concept “Health Without Harm” must be the main axis of any current and future health schedule.
AUTHOR:
● LAURA SILVIA ADDUCI
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SPECIALIST IN NEUROSURGERY
● MARCELO FABIÁN SAITTA
UNIVERSITY SPECIALIST DOCTOR IN PEDIATRICS
● MARÍA VERÓNICA VIÑAS CHACIOR
MEDICAL SPECIALIST IN GENERAL SURGERY
We are a GREEN HOSPITAL GROUP and work together with Balgreen.org & Dr. Diego Balverde in Climate Change.
