085: Sustainable Healthcare with Dr. Rosie Spooner

Dr. Rosie Spooner is a British Pediatrician who is currently an Education Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an NGO working on mainstreaming sustainability practices into planning and delivery of health services. Rosie is a practicing clinician who works alongside medical schools and postgraduate education programs to support the integration of sustainable healthcare into mainstream healthcare teaching. She became more concerned about the connection between the climate emergency and health after a year sailing with her husband on a 12-meter boat for 12,000 miles, crossing the Atlantic twice. On this journey she saw how climate change is already destabilizing the world's natural systems and witnessed the catastrophic effects this can have on human health. She is a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and has campaigned for them to divest from fossil fuel investments and declare a climate emergency.

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In this episode Marjorie and Dr. Rosie discuss:

• How delivering healthcare impacts the environment and what some health professionals are doing to reduce the impacts
• What role patients and clients play in the sustainability of the healthcare
• How hygiene and infection control practices impact both sustainability and patient comfortability
• The complexities of transitioning to more earth-conscious healthcare strategies when product availability and contracts dictate much of the reusable and disposable supplies

Resources mentioned in today's episode:

• SustainableHealthcare.org (https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/)
• Health Care Without Harm
• ChoosingWisely.org
• The Planetary Health Report Card
• Outrage + Optimism with Christiana Figueres

 

Connect with Dr. Rosie Spooner and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare:

• Website: http://sustainablehealthcare.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CentreforSustainableHealthcare/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SusHealthcare
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/spooner_rosie
• LinkedIn: .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}