EARTHDAY.ORG’s founders created and organized the very first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Since then, Earth Day Network has been mobilizing over 1 billion people annually on Earth Day, and every other day, to protect the planet.
The Victoria Hospice Green Team, led by Nurse Dominique Duquette, was formed in 2023 to help turn the team’s values around sustainability into meaningful action. The Green Team brings together clinical and non-clinical staff to lead initiatives like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) recycling and swapping single-use items with reusables. They meet monthly at a “Green Team Rendez-Vous” to plan projects, share updates, and support each other’s work. Everyone has a role, with team members stepping up to lead initiatives in a supportive team-based environment.
Some of the Green Team’s proudest accomplishments include:
- Lunchroom composting: The team is diverting an estimated 1,000 lbs of food waste from landfill each year. (Yes, they weighed it with a luggage scale!)
- Reusable tumblers for patients: Victoria Hospice was going through 21,000 single-use plastic cups a year, so the team introduced reusable cups and new workflows to safely sanitize and restock them on the unit. The result: less waste, and a more homelike patient experience. In the last 6 months, we saw a decreased in spending for plastic cups by 46% compared to the previous 6 months. This means that we reduced the use of single use plastic cups significantly since introducing the reusable tumblers.
- Winter Go-By-Bike Week: The team held a biking photo contest and logged 60 km of cycling to work in just one week.
- Raheal, our new Green Team Leader, will be presenting the work of the Green Team with Maya R. Kalogirou and the Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare at their upcoming Nursing Week virtual event the week of May 11th.
The Green Team acknowledges that sustainability in healthcare isn’t always easy. Staff face competing demands, and long-standing practices take time to change. But by engaging staff, volunteers, patients, and families in practical actions, they’re building momentum and proving that compassionate care and environmental responsibility go hand in hand.
[SD1]Placeholder, repurposed from the weekly article last April. Waiting for updates from DD. Web story or not, TBD