Congratulations to Delta Hospital for being recognized as one of North America’s top hospitals for environmental sustainability.
Delta Hospital has been named as a recipient for Practice Greenhealth’s Greenhealth Partner for Change Award. The award is a part of Practice Greenhealth’s annual Environmental Excellence Awards roundup to honor health care’s achievements in sustainability, recognizing superior performance across various aspects of environmental sustainability including energy and water efficiency, waste reduction and climate resilience.
This achievement marks an important milestone for Fraser Health’s focus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “It’s important that Delta Hospital was able to win this award,” says Marianne Dawson, a Sustainability Consultant with the Energy and Environmental Sustainability team who supported Delta Hospital in their application. “People generally know that environmental sustainability is important, but it’s a large issue that seems daunting and unsolvable. By winning such a prestigious award, it shows that we can make a difference in the big picture.”
Delta Hospital was chosen from all Fraser Health acute care sites for two key factors:
“From the hospitals we considered, Delta Hospital was a top performer in terms of energy conservation and waste management,” says Marianne. “We needed to match the prestige of the award, since it’s essentially a list of the top hospitals for environmental sustainability across North America.”
Delta Hospital has achieved impressive energy efficiency in its buildings by reducing its energy use intensity. While the hospital benchmark shared by Practice Greenhealth is 678 kilowatt hours per square metre (kWh/m2), Delta Hospital is a significant step below by consuming only 570 kWh/m2. The hospital was also able to put 37 per cent of its waste into recycling or organics bins, 9 per cent better than the benchmark of 28 per cent.
Marianne noted that Delta Hospital strives to build on these impressive waste reduction numbers by setting targets to reach 44 per cent recyclable and compostable waste by 2025, a number that will raise to 50 per cent by 2030.
Our leadership team is proud of Delta Hospital’s achievement and demonstration of the progress that Fraser Health sites are making in sustainability,”
says Cathy Wiebe, Executive Director of Delta Hospital. “We must continue to stay vigilant and to work even harder towards environmental sustainability, to show people that this can be done.”
Thank you to all of the staff, medical staff, volunteers and Green+Leaders at Delta Hospital who contributed to this amazing accomplishment. Moving Fraser Health further toward environmentally sustainable and resilient care requires the collective effort of the entire health-care community. A special thanks to the team who supported the application for the award:
- Jeson Mak: Fraser Health Energy and Emissions Manager, Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Maleeka Aamer: Fraser Health Energy Specialist, Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Marianne Dawson: Sustainability Consultant, Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Emily Lomax: Sustainability Consultant, Energy and Environmental Sustainability
- Cathy Wiebe: Executive Director White Rock/South Surrey and Delta Health Services & Peace Arch and Delta Hospitals
- Carrie Edge: Manager, Clinical Operations
- Nikita Gitau: Project Leader, System Optimization
- Sara Azizkhani: Business Analyst, Surgery Information Systems
Join the GreenCare network to stay up to date by subscribing to the newsletter. You will receive information about climate change and sustainability, as well as, invitations to learning events and opportunities to participate.
Passionate about sustainability? Join the Green+Leaders program and create healthy workplaces and a healthy planet.
