Original story posted on oneVCH (internal newsletter) by Vancouver Coastal Health Communications.
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues we’re facing today and we must adapt to ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality care through climate events, while reducing our environmental impact. For Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), Planetary Health is one of their four organizational pillars and they are committed to transforming how they deliver care to reduce their environmental footprint and build a sustainable, low carbon, and resilient health-system.
Meet Kori Jones, Director of Energy and Emissions, VCH, whose work on embedding low carbon resilience into cooling systems strategies is making a difference.
Where did you get the idea for this work?
The Pacific Northwest heat dome in 2021 was a stark reminder that the effects of climate change are happening now.
Traditional cooling system designs in our existing facilities are based on static historical data. In a changing climate, using past data no longer works. A design shift was needed, and with some health facilities requiring up to 40 per cent more cooling capacity by 2050, the health sector has a role in leading this transformation.
To ensure thermal comfort for our patients and staff, especially vulnerable populations in our health facilities, a long-term cooling infrastructure strategy was required.
Why are higher temperatures a challenge for VCH sites?
High indoor temperatures can lead to exacerbated health conditions in patients and increase recovery times. Medical equipment performance is impacted, and operational disruptions such as equipment failure and service interruptions can occur.
How did your team solve this challenge?
Several facilities management teams were all advancing cooling infrastructure based on their team’s priorities. We brought all the teams together to leverage our collective knowledge and better understand our organizational needs, assessing our current state and setting design criteria to move forward.
Starting with Vancouver General Hospital, we captured a baseline of existing cooling systems and assessed enabling infrastructure and known risks. This was followed by a multidisciplinary process to develop a long-term cooling infrastructure strategy, building by building.
By using climate projections to inform and prioritize capital investments, VCH is future proofing our infrastructure. This planning process enabled a low carbon resilience lens, preparing for a shifting climate while identifying decarbonization opportunities.
Learnings from the process were captured and are now being applied across our Richmond cooling strategy, with our Coastal and rural sites planned next.
What advice would you give to other staff and medical staff looking to make a difference?
Be curious and listen, ask what others are doing in your sphere of work. When you find people working in the same space as you, connect, collaborate and create a community of practice to improve outcomes.
