Planetary Pearl of the Month |
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Engaging Family Medicine Residents in Sustainable Prescribing Practices for Diagnosing and Treating Asthma "Last year, the Queen’s Family Health team, revamped our Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QIPS) curriculum for first-year family medicine residents to integrate environmental sustainability. Specifically, we targeted reducing pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) that have a high global warming potential from hydrofluoroalkanes (HFA). Our project had two main goals: improve asthma care and environmental sustainability. A substantial number of inhalers are prescribed without objective diagnosis, contributing both to suboptimal patient care and environmental harm. Teams competed to reduce the number of pMDIs prescribed, using methods like switching to more eco-friendly dry powder inhalers (DPIs), increasing diagnostic lung function testing, and deprescribing where feasible. Eight months later, we have observed 21% relative drop in pMDI prescriptions, from constituting 58% of all inhaler prescriptions down to 46%. We've also seen a corresponding rise in dry powder inhaler prescriptions. This project can be implemented in any practice!" See links below to get you started: |
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Dr. Anthony Train, MBChB, MSc, CCFP Assistant Professor
Queen's University
Department of Family Medicine | | |
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Environmental Stewardship and Psychiatry - A Plan for Sustainable Change Check out the Guidebook for Sustainable Change, developed by McMaster’s department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, alongside PEACH and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. Here you will find relevant information regarding the many impacts of global climate change that affect both the health care system as well our mental health. You will also discover actions that we can take to cope, raise awareness, and embark on the road to environmental stewardship! There are also many fantastic resources throughout the Guidebook! | | |
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Upcoming PEACH Presentations |
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OMA Green is Health, PEACH, and CAPE Present: Explore climate advocacy with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May Join climate activist, environmentalist, author, lawyer and politician Elizabeth May for a virtual fireside chat and Q&A session about her climate advocacy work. This is part of a new collaborative webinar series! All MIG members will have access to the Zoom recording following the session. Date: September 26th, 2023 Time: 7:30pm - 8:30pm EST | | |
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Where is the Money? Investment and divestment considerations for healthcare workers, associations, and foundations Join CASCADES and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care for a panel discussion of perspectives on finance, climate, and the health sector. Date: Oct 19th, 2023 Time: 12pm EST / 9am PST |
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Celebrating our Partnerships The Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES) is a Non-Profit, Member based organization consisting of Healthcare Facility Managers, Consultants and Corporate Members from all across Canada as well as a few International Members. The mission of CHES is to build on member expertise by offering educational opportunities through webinars, e-news, our quarterly journal, education days, and annual conferences. CHES also serves as a means to communicate and collaborate with other members. CHES promotes best practices for Facility Operations Management including Facility design, maintenance and energy management measures to help reduce costs and reduce the carbon footprint. Our National Conference is held annually in September. This year’s event is located in Winnipeg, MB on September 17-19th, 2023. Our 2024 event will be held in Halifax, NS on September 8-10th, 2024. Jim McArthur CHES National Vice-President For more information about CHES, including membership applications, please visit www.ches.org |
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PEACH of the Month “Giving spotlight to our very own PEACH members” "My name is Dr. Sujane Kandasamy and I’m the Knowledge Translation Lead for PEACH Health Ontario. I’m a postdoctoral research fellow, the Co-founder & Director of Education of The Starfish Canada, a film-maker, a parent to three young children (under age five!), and a gentle walker (but a loud advocate!) My belief is that “education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” To me, this means inspiring curiosity amongst learners to carve their own paths to address societal challenges. I am committed to teaching—and learning (and un-learning) and would definitely call myself a lifelong student. In 2009, I was volunteering as a medical interpreter for a large, urban hospital in Toronto. In this role I became aware of the importance of cultural safety in healthcare interactions. This sparked my keenness to explore the design and evaluation of new trust-centered avenues for knowledge mobilization for diverse populations. In the same year, I was taking an undergraduate course (advanced topics in ecology), which opened my eyes to the interconnectedness of environmental challenges with other critical aspects of our socio-cultural world. This course inspired me to think of environmental health as part in parcel of human health and wellness (planetary health!)…and I became addicted to learning more about the interconnectedness of it all. It also catalyzed a colleague and I to co-found an organization dedicated to creatively sharing planetary health solutions and connecting young change-makers. Fast-forward 12 years and we are registered charity supporting youth in addressing and combating environmental crises. I serve as the Director of Education and oversee ongoing partnerships with many school boards across Canada, corporate and other partners. I also support our Youth Advisory-Action Committee. Read more here: https://thestarfish.ca/learning-and-development My main goal is to help inspire and equip individuals and organizations to design, implement, and evaluate evidence-informed solutions to planetary health challenges. This is what I do with The Starfish Canada and PEACH Health Ontario. A takeaway for those who want to get involved: "Learn; Collaborate; Act; Reflect. Repeat." |
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Dr. Sujane Kandasamy, PhD Postdoctoral research fellow Co-founder and Director of Education of The Starfish Canada |
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Want to share your story or submit ideas for future newsletters? We would love to hear from you! Send us an email at peachforhealth@gmail.com or visit https://www.peachhealthontario.com/ Join us on our Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for updates www.facebook.com/PEACHHealthON https://www.instagram.com/peachhealthon/
Or send us a Tweet @PEACH_HealthON
Welcome Karen Leiva, our newest PEACH volunteer. A communications professional for 25 years, she is the current Director of Communications for the Ontario College of Family Physicians. She also volunteers as a Board member for the Grand River Conservation Authority Foundation. Based in Guelph, Karen spends as much time as possible in nature on the trails and water with her family. Editors: Josh Dworsky-Fried and Karen Leiva |
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