St. Joseph's receives Green Health Care Awards

St. Joseph’s received two awards and one honourable mention at the 2022 Green Health Care Awards presented by the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (CCGHC).

Recognition through the Green Health Care Awards is predicated upon the results of a completed Green Hospital Scorecard survey, a comprehensive ‘Made in Canada’ health care benchmarking tool that measures hospitals’ performance in a number of crucial categories.

The awards, which are based on 2021 performance, honoured the top performing Canadian hospitals in the categories of Energy and Energy Behaviour as well as Water, Waste, Leadership and Pollution Prevention. The hospitals with the best overall scores in their respective peer groups receive the Green Hospital of the Year Award.

St. Joseph’s as an organization received the top score in the Energy Behaviour- Canada Wide category. In the Energy - Ontario category, Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building had the top score and Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care received honourable mention.

The Coalition's Executive Director Neil Ritchie presented the award at the Coalition's virtual awards ceremony in the fall of 2022.

“These are excellent results for our organization,” says Terry Maslen, St. Joseph’s Director of Facilities Management. “Our facilities team is always working diligently to find greener solutions to ensure the hospital is functioning smoothly while doing our part to reduce St. Joseph’s overall carbon footprint.”

St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care Building is currently a LEED Gold facility that utilizes technologies such as LED Lighting, photo chromatic glass, magnetic bearing chillers for cooling – all technologies which contribute to a reduction in energy usage. St. Joseph’s created targets in 2021 to maintain the certification. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a worldwide green building certification program.

‘“It is our vision to consider energy efficiency from the design and construction of new buildings and space through standards such as LEED, to the retrofit of existing buildings and equipment with more efficient systems and technology, to engage the end user in energy efficient behaviour at work,” adds Terry.

“We understand that providing the best quality of patient care includes acting responsibly with energy resources and minimizing the negative impact that the organization has on the environment.”

“Being acknowledged among our peers for our success in making our health care organization more environmentally sustainable is truly an honour,” says Terry.