SARAH CURRIE
SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY TEAM
The Energy and Environmental Sustainability (EES) team developed and distributed the GreenCare Survey to staff of the four Lower Mainland health organizations of Fraser Health, Providence Health Care, Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) in the spring of this year.
Through this survey, EES learns more about staff knowledge of sustainability initiatives, as well as collecting metrics to inform sustainability programs. Overall, 1866 staff responded to the survey in 2021, representing various departments, positions and locations across the LMHOs.
Multiple prizes were distributed to both the survey participants, as well as members of the Green+Leaders program, who helped to share the survey with their colleagues. The EES team caught up with some of the prize draw winners to find out more about what sustainability means to them:
Mitchel Vedder, Laboratory Technologist: For me, sustainability means thinking about how our choices and actions impact seven generations to come – roughly 150 years in the future. So many of us are caught up in just surviving the work day or the week ahead of us, that thinking about 150 years in the future is an exceptional feat (especially during the past year!).
Emily Doyle, Registered Nurse: “We only have one planet. Being sustainable in health-care means looking at the current state of the world’s ecosystems, imagining a vision for a healthy future that respects the boundaries of our planetary systems, and then, taking active steps to delivering care in a way that gets us there. It means recognizing that human health depends on healthy natural ecosystems.”
Jaafar Aghajanian, Quality Analyst, Eating Disorders Program: Sustainability is showing appreciation and taking care of things that make our lives and services possible. Sustainability is living with gratitude and service: acknowledging what we have, and offering what we have to others. Sustainability is sharing!
Krista Burrows, Clerk: To me it means that a large and important organization has a low carbon footprint, and is cognizant of the resources they are using and the waste they are producing.
Thanks to their efforts to distribute and promote the survey, Mitchel, Emily, Jaafar and Krista each won a GreenCare lunch kit (bamboo cutlery and organic cotton lunch bag) as well as a $25 gift card to a local coffee or bookshop.
EES is grateful to all staff who took the time to complete the 2021 GreenCare Survey and would like to congratulate all of the winners of this year’s survey draw!
2021 Providence GreenCare Survey Results
Interested to learn more about the results of the 2021 GreenCare Survey? Simply visit https://bcgreencare.ca/phcsurvey to learn more!
EES hopes that the GreenCare Survey not only captures valuable data from staff about sustainability in health-care, but that it also acts as a reminder that environmental sustainability is everyone’s story. Stay tuned for the 2022 GreenCare Survey and how you can be in with a chance to win!
Have questions about the survey? Please contact Emily Lomax, Sustainability Consultant on the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Team at emily.lomax@vch.ca
