“Proper disposal of medications is not just about tidying up your cabinet; it’s about safeguarding our health and contributing to a healthier planet,” advises Karen Lam, Sunnybrook Ambulatory Patient Pharmacy Manager.

To address this issue, the Sunnybrook Pharmacy Green Team recommends a simple solution: regular assessment and proper disposal of unwanted or expired medications.

Here’s how you can contribute to this important endeavour in just three easy steps:

Step 1: Take inventory

Twice a year, take the time to thoroughly inspect your medication cabinet. Identify any medications that are expired or no longer needed. If you have any concerns or questions about specific medications, don’t hesitate to consult your healthcare provider or pharmacist for guidance.

Step 2: Prepare for disposal

Separate your unwanted medications, including both solid forms like tablets and capsules, and liquids or creams. Remove solid medications from the vials and place them into a clear bag, while liquids and creams can remain in their original containers. Before disposal, remember to remove any personal information from the containers. Additionally, it’s crucial to keep sharps and needles separate from other medications.

Step 3: Drop-off and recycle

Once you’ve gathered your unwanted medications, it’s time to dispose of them responsibly. Take the clear bag of medications to the Sunnybrook outpatient pharmacy or your local one for safe disposal. Notably, plastic vials can be recycled, contributing to environmental sustainability. However, it’s essential to note that medications labeled as “hazardous” or “toxic,” such as chemotherapy drugs, should remain in their original containers for safe handling. Similarly, sharps and needles must be disposed of in designated sharps containers available at pharmacies.

By following these three simple steps, you can play a significant role in ensuring the safe disposal of unwanted medications, thereby protecting both human health and the environment.

The post From Cabinets to Conservation: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Medication Disposal appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Climate change and health

According to infectious diseases physician and Sunnybrook Research Institute scientist Dr. Samira Mubareka, our changing environment has helped arboviruses (viruses transmitted through insects, such as West Nile) and their vectors (such as mosquitoes) to thrive.

“With climate change, we’re seeing a change in mosquito behaviour and even in mosquito populations themselves,” she says. “It’s opened up the possibility of new viruses and existing viruses to change their epidemiology.”

Longer, wetter and hotter summers have meant arboviruses and their carriers are able to multiply faster and live longer, she says. And with shorter, milder winters, mosquito vectors are overwintering more. She adds that vectors have more opportunities to feed and transmit viruses to other hosts, including humans, plus, with higher temperatures, vectors that used to only live near the equator are expanding their range and creeping north.

“We’re seeing more exotic mosquitoes that normally would not have been able to survive Canadian winters,” says the infectious diseases physician. “Some have been introduced into Southern Ontario.”

And it’s not just viruses that are on the rise, she says. Other pathogens, like the bacterium Borrelia, which can cause Lyme disease, have seen an increase in prevalence too.

“I’ve seen so much Lyme in the past year relative to the 10 years before,” she says.

Reflecting beyond infectious diseases, Dr. Mubareka points out that climate change has done more damage to our health than just increase the spread of pathogens.

In recent years, we’ve also seen negative impacts on cardiovascular health (the federal government estimates 15,300 premature deaths per year in Canada due to air pollution) and sudden death due to heat (British Columbia saw the deadliest weather event in Canadian history last summer, with 595 people killed by heat), to name a couple things.

“We are only scratching the surface. We really need to understand more,” says Dr. Mubareka.

The rise of climate change anxiety

As more work is done to unpack and address this growing problem, and as climate change becomes more visible and harder to ignore, more and more, climate change anxiety is becoming a topic of conversation.

A few years ago, Dr. Anthony Levitt, chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook, spoke briefly with the Globe and Mail about climate change anxiety.

“It got such traction,” he says of the interview. “I got emails and letters from all over the world asking about the subject.”

To better respond to those questions, Dr. Levitt conducted a survey in the United States and Canada to understand climate change anxiety and who it impacts most.

In general, he found that individuals who live in close proximity to events triggered by climate change, such as British Columbians who saw massive floods and numerous fires last year, were more likely to experience anxiety, and sometimes, even depression. Canadians, females and young people between 18 and 29 are also more vulnerable to climate change anxiety.

“They’re experiencing it, they’re seeing it, they’ve been educated in school about it,” says Dr. Levitt, explaining why young adults are feeling the pressures most. “And now, they’re getting into child rearing age; they’re seeing their children, and they’re thinking about what kind of a legacy they’re going to leave them.”

Like other forms of anxiety, Dr. Levitt says if climate change anxiety is affecting someone’s daily functioning, then they should seek help from a professional. However, he says we shouldn’t try to get rid of it altogether.

“There’s a functional part to anxiety. If you’re anxious about climate change, you’re going to mobilize your resources and do something about it. So, we don’t want to completely remove anxiety because that might remove some of the motivation,” he says. “However, we have to be careful. If you become too anxious, it becomes a barrier to effective problem solving, and you end up being paralyzed.”

What you can do

Dr. Levitt says the “antidote,” to both addressing climate change and to mitigating anxiety, is to take everyday action. Feeling that you are contributing to a solution has the dual job of helping the environment and of helping your symptoms of anxiety.

Dr. Mubareka practices this in her own life.

From biking more often to work, to eating less meat, to studying and educating about the complexities of climate change, she says, “I personally find doing something relieves my anxiety.”

And while she wants people to know how serious and multifaceted climate change is, rather than being alarmist, she says she always wants to emphasize what can be done.

“We have an opportunity right now to prevent the spread of emerging infections through mitigating climate change,” she says. “Climate change is very multilateral, very multisectoral, but that means even the small steps matter. We can all do our part.”

The post The far-reaching effects of climate change on health and anxiety appeared first on Your Health Matters.

June 22-28 is National Pollinator Week. Get to know more about these hard-working insects and their role at Sunnybrook. Michael Lithgow, Manager, Energy and Climate Action at Sunnybrook shares details below:

Why did Sunnybrook decide to install beehives at the Bayview campus?

The global bee population is unfortunately declining, and as a result urban beekeeping is on the rise. In many ways, cities can be an ideal location for beekeeping due to abundant flowering plants, fewer pesticides than rural areas, many sources of water… and hopefully few bears! In fact, Toronto became Canada’s first official “Bee City” in 2016. Sunnybrook wanted to support the bee population and also provide opportunities for staff and visitors to learn more about bees. Our large campus and plenty of green space is an added bonus.

Why are bees at risk and why are they important to the planet?

There are many factors behind the loss of bees. Climate change, pesticide use, loss of habitat, pollution, and parasites and predators are just some of the reasons. Bees are not only extremely important for humans, but also for entire ecosystems to function. Bees pollinate plants, allowing them to reproduce. These plants then contribute to the food system by feeding animals – aside from humans – such as birds and insects.

Photography by Kevin Van Paassen

Are there any other hospitals in Toronto that have beehives?

No other Toronto hospitals have hives, and we’re not currently aware of any other hospitals with honey bees in Canada. There are a few hospitals in the U.S. that host hives, and local non-hospital sites include places like U of T, Royal York Hotel, and the rooftop of several shopping malls.

Where are the beehives located at Bayview campus?

The hives are located on the hospital campus, about one kilometre away from the main hospital buildings.

Photography by Kevin Van Paassen

Who manages the hives and looks after the bees?

We have partnered with Fairhaven Farm to bring bees to Sunnybrook. Patricia, our beekeeper, routinely inspects the hives to ensure they are healthy.

How was this project funded?

There is no direct cost to Sunnybrook. In fact, we’re hoping to generate a modest revenue. In exchange for providing space for the beehives, Fairhaven will manage the hives and provide wholesale Sunnybrook-sourced honey to us for resale.

Do the bees produce honey? If so, what is done with it?

The bees will produce honey, and the amount of honey will depend on the weather. Generally the three hives can produce an average of 100-150 pounds of honey each a year. Once the hives are established, we plan to have the honey available for purchase in the Sunnybrook gift shop and at the vendor tables through Fairhaven Farm.

Photography by Kevin Van Paassen

Should people with bee sting allergies be nervous?

Honey bees don’t usually sting people unless they are provoked by individuals who interfere with the hive. The risk of a sting is no higher having honey bees on site, and the usual precautions should be taken by allergic individuals, like carrying an EpiPen and seeking immediate medical attention if stung. Bees are focused on the flowers. Wasps, on the other hand, are usually the ones that get close and personal, spoiling our picnics and barbecues.

Is there a plan to add more hives?

As the bee colonies grow, we can help them expand into new hives. We are fortunate to have plenty of space to expand if and when appropriate.

The post Urban beekeeping: Honey bees arrive at Sunnybrook appeared first on Your Health Matters.

My name’s Adam, I work as a Co-op student within the sustainability department here at Sunnybrook. My experience helping with the Bike to Work Day event was great! I met so many people and had the opportunity to ask about their commutes. To my surprise I noticed that everyone responded with the same answers! Talk about thinking alike! The majority of the cyclists suggested to me that the main reason for biking is not only for the fun aspect, or the health benefits, but because it actually reduces the amount of time to get to Sunnybrook by bus, by almost half the time!

During our time talking with the cyclists, we would ask them what there bike means to them, we’d get them to express there feelings on a poster which we hung up in front of the solar wall.

But of course cycling has its challenges too, and the main challenge with biking is that cyclists sometimes have to overcome obstacles such as weather or construction. Some easy tips I learned for how to overcome these challenges are: 1. Check the weather and dress appropriately, 2. Use maps and apps to search up good bike routes to avoid construction.

I also asked cyclists to tell me about their most valued bike gear. Now anyone who is biking should be wearing a helmet and have a bell on their bike (It’s required by the law!), but aside from those items, 89% of the people said that having lights and reflectors would be their number one pick for best bike gear to have.

All in all, everyone shared my thought that the day had the most amazing weather, the perfect breeze, and top it off the smell of everything blossoming. The perfect day for enjoying the pleasant and quiet ride through Sunnybrook Park.  Oh! I almost forgot; don’t forget to share your favorite place in Sunnybrook Park for your chance to win the “Bike gear basket prize” from Smart Commute!

~ Adam

The post My Bike to Work Day Experience – Adam the Co-op appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Her research investigates the following questions: how does contact with nature influence health and happiness, what are the consequences of disconnection from nature for environmental decision-making, and what types of interventions can influence nature relatedness.

If I were asked to describe my own level of nature relatedness I would say that i feel highly connected with nature, I love spending time adventuring in the wilderness and am often concerned about how our actions are impacting the natural environment. Needless to say I really enjoyed the talk.

There were three things that really stuck with me after listening to Dr. Nisbet’s  presentation:

1. Humans have evolved surrounded by nature, we are meant to be in natural environments, that’s why spending time in nature feels good.

2. People tend to underestimate the  benefits of spending time in nature. Even though green spaces are often only a short diversion from our daily routes, we often don’t make time for nature.

3. I need to make more of an effort to spend time in Nature. Since moving to Toronto, I have noticed that it is easy to go the whole day without experiencing nature, therefore I will need to make a conscious effort to connect with nature.

After thinking about this for a couple of days I decided to enroll in 30×30 Nature Challenge.  The David Suzuki Foundation is challenging Canadians to spend 30 minutes a day outdoors in nature for 30 days starting May 1st 2014. This challenge is about taking time to notice and connect with the non-human life around you, whether it be in your backyard, neighbourhood park, or a back country hiking trail.  I expect participating in this challenge will be just the motivation I need to seek out and enjoy more nature time!

I am looking forward to some of the potential perks:

• sleeping better
• feeling calmer
• lower blood pressure, anxiety, and stress levels
• boosted immunity
• reduced feelings of anger and depression
• increased energy
• increased creativity
• increased generosity

If you are skeptical of the health and happiness benefits of more time in nature, I  encourage you to try the 30×30 challenge with me.  I expect you will be pleasantly surprised with your results!

To learn more about the David Suzuki 30×30 Nature Challenge and the potential health and happiness benefits, visit the website:

http://30×30.davidsuzuki.org/

The post 30×30 Nature Challenge Accepted! appeared first on Your Health Matters.

The Earth Matter’s showcase is an internal trade show that Sunnybrook hosts for our 10,000 staff and volunteers. Each year we organize companies and community groups to set up displays presenting green products and information regarding green initiatives. Many of these companies have partnered with Sunnybrook to implement green initiatives and are happy to talk to staff about the impacts of those green initiatives on the hospital and the community at large. For example staff and volunteers can learn about the two solar arrays we have installed at Sunnybrook as part of a $30Million energy retrofit project with Honeywell, or the deltasorb anesthetic gas capturing system we have implemented in the operating rooms with BlueZone.  There are a wide variety of companies that participate and their displays cover all aspects of sustainability including: energy, water, transportation, food, indoor air quality, air pollution, nature and landscape, and green purchasing.

(photo from the 2013 Earth Matters Showcase Event)

What is great about this event is that staff and volunteers have the opportunity to interact with company representatives,  be engaged and ask questions.  According to Doug McKenzie-Mohr in his book – Fostering Sustainable Behaviour “Research demonstrates that the major influence upon our attitudes and behaviour is not the media, but rather our contact with other people”. It is this interaction with people that makes the Earth Matters Showcase so successful. After exploring the Showcase and connecting with others, staff are more informed, feel more engaged and often have ideas for how we can make Sunnybrook even greener. Feedback which they can submit for a chance to win some really great prizes like this year’s grand prize – an iPad mini – sponsored by Honeywell.

(photo from the 2013 Earth Matters Showcase Event)

Most of all, the Earth Matters Showcase is a celebration of all things green at Sunnybrook. It’s both a testament to all that we have accomplished and an inspiration for future green initiatives.

This year’s event is April 16th – you wont want to miss it!

The post Sunnybrook’s Annual Earth Matters Showcase appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Toronto Ice Storm – December 2013

In Canada, 2013 was marked by many extreme weather events including the Alberta Flooding that wreaked havoc on Calgary and surrounding areas, the Toronto Flooding, and the recent Ice Storm that hit Southern Ontario and Atlantic Canada leaving many Canadians without power.

With the increased frequency of extreme global weather events such as Hurricane Sandy, Typhoon Haiyan, the North India Floods, and other storms, floods, wild fires and extreme temperature events it is hard to ignore the piling evidence that climate change is happening and warmer global temperatures are affecting the severity of weather events.

Extreme weather events can create emergencies by damaging infrastructure, compromising access to critical resources (e.g. food and water) and safety of patients, visitors and staff. The recent Ice Storm in Toronto tested Sunnybrook’s aging emergency generation infrastructure last month when the hospital was without Utility (Hydro) power for 39 hours. During this outage, the generator plant supplied emergency power to critical hospital loads while non critical loads such as offices were left in the dark. A portable generator was also brought in to supply power for the main entrance atrium.

It is fitting to announce that Sunnybrook has been planning an $18 million Generator Plant Renewal Project to mitigate against potential patient safety risks caused by extreme weather events and improve the hospital’s emergency preparedness. Michael McRitchie, Director of Plant Operations and Maintenance, has been spearheading the planning of the High Voltage Emergency Electrical System (generator plant) Renewal Project which began back in 2012 and the contract was awarded for construction just days before December’s Ice Storm.

The Generator Plant Renewal Project will provide complete renewal of the existing aging infrastructure which consists of a mixture of generators and switch gear equipment ranging in age from 1972 – 1996. As the hospital expanded over the years new equipment was continuously added to expand the emergency system resulting in a hybrid mix of machines and switch gear which interface together to provide emergency power.

The renewal project includes for four new 2000 kW campus emergency diesel generators to replace the existing equipment and one new 750 kW generator which will be dedicated to the power plant equipment. This will double the hospital’s generation capacity and standardize the equipment for much improved reliability and operations. A new load management system will more reliably manage electrical loads in each building.  The new generator plant has also been designed for closed transition transfer which will allow for the seamless transfer of power to and from the generators without interruption. New environmental emissions control equipment will also reduce emissions, such as NOx, and allow us to operate the generators for peak load shedding to reduce our electrical supply costs by $1.5 million per year.

The post Preparing for Continued Climate Variability appeared first on Your Health Matters.

What is Grid Balance:

Grid Balance, also known as regulation service,  helps to match Ontario’s total electricity generation with Ontario’s total electricity demand on a second by second basis, keeping it in balance.  Since electricity is not traditionally stored, it is very important that the amount of electricity generated in each moment correctly match the demand loads. If too much or too little electricity is produced, it can be harmful to the electricity grid and the users.  As we introduce more variability into our province’s power generation by connecting more solar and wind power (which are intermittent sources are power), keeping the grid in balance becomes more difficult and more important. Until now, this load matching service has been provided by generators.

(Graphic showing the balance of supply and demand known as Grid Balance from ENBALA Power Networks)

The ENBALA GOFlex Platform:

ENBALA has been contracted by Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to provide Grid Balance through real-time, demand-side management. ENBALA has connected a network of large electricity consumers that have some flexibility in when and  how they use power.  Through the use of their innovative smart grid technology platform, GOFlex, ENBALA can intelligently manage the flexibility of electricity loads in response to real-time needs of the electricity grid.  The result is a more reliable,  sustainable and often cheaper method of regulation service.  This is because the  GOFlex platform is able to respond within seconds to signals from the grid operator to adjust the power usage of participating businesses and institutions.

Check out this video from ENBALA’s website to learn about how Grid Balance works:

(On October 31st, Sunnybrook hosted the official launch of this new initiative alongside ENBALA, the IESO and the Ontario Ministry of Energy. Photo of the event speakers from left to right: Bruce Campbell – the President and CEO of the I.E.S.O, Ron Dizy – the President and CEO of ENBALA Power Networks, Michael Young – Sunnybrook’s Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, Bob Delaney – The Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and MPP for Mississauga- Streetsville )

Sunnybrook Participation: 

At Sunnybrook, we have five large 1400 ton air conditioning chillers that are connected to the ENABALA’s Ontario Grid Balance Network. Each chiller uses up to 800 kw of power to produce cold water for cooling the campus and during the summer peak conditions the electricity load from these chillers make up 25% of our total electricity load.  There is flexibility in when and how we use the power for these machines because we can adjust the temperature of the cold water that is produced up and down by a couple of degrees while keeping hospital spaces within ordinary comfortable temperatures.

This is the next level of demand response. Traditional demand response would require an electricity customer to curtail (reduce) their energy use for hours at a time, which is not something that is easily achievable for a hospital. The type of demand response we are talking about here is real-time power draw adjustments for only short periods of time (usually less than 15 minutes). These power draw adjustments are fluctuating up and down for short time intervals to help constantly match the grid. This makes it easy for hospitals to participate because the total cooling capacity provided does not change and the total energy used over time also remains the same.

(photo of Sunnybrook staff posing in front of one of the five air-conditioning chillers participating in the program)

Benefits for Sunnybrook:

• we are participating in a simple, automatic and cost free demand response program that leverages existing energy-consuming assets and makes them “dual-use”
• we are contributing to the reliability of the province’s power system
• we are contributing to the reduction of green house gas emissions for the province
• we gain experience in new innovative technologies that can be applied elsewhere at Sunnybrook to achieve further benefits in the future
• we are generating a new revenue stream that can be applied against energy initiatives and patient care

In today’s information age we have so much data available to help inform us how to manage our energy use. Taking part in the Ontario Grid Balance initiative is just one of the steps we are taking as part of our Smart Energy Actions Program, which we launched earlier this year to manage our energy use more intelligently.

The post Sunnybrook contributing to a more reliable & sustainable electricity grid for Ontario appeared first on Your Health Matters.

These are words from Dr. David Suzuki’s address to the MASH sector stakeholders at an engagement event I attended last month regarding “Energy Conservation Through Collaboration”. (The MASH sector includes municipal, academic  schools & hospitals.) In his speech, Dr. Suzuki challenged us to think of other ways to measure our success other than perpetual economic growth. He proposed we consider instead whether our fundamental needs of survival are being met: do we have clean air to breath, clean water to drink and healthy food to eat?

I wanted to share this powerful analogy through this week’s Earth Matters blog because I feel that we can easily to relate to the harmful effects of a growing cancer in the health care sector and I always like to draw parallels between environment and health. This was my second time listening to Dr. Suzuki, whom I have long admired for his work as an environmentalist and climate change activist and I’ll admit that I did not realize until recently that his background is in biology and genetics. I am not surprised that these are the same fields one studies in healthcare and cancer research as there are many lessons in human health that can be applied to the health of our environment as well.

My favourite part of his talk is when he shares his famous analogy of “exponential growth in a test tube” . A tale of unsuspecting bacteria, happily growing and multiplying without regard any for their limited resources within the test tube. Can you guess how it ends? If you haven’t heard it before, I recommend you watch it for yourself.

You can watch Dr. David Suzuki explain the “Test Tube” analogy here:

http://testtube.nfb.ca/

more about cancer cell division here:

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-division-and-cancer-14046590

The post Thoughts on Perpetual Growth appeared first on Your Health Matters.

When study participants were asked about what factors influence health, the environment was not considered an important determinant of individual or community health. However, when asked about health concerns specific to their community, the participants frequently mentioned environmental issues such as air pollution.

When asked about big picture global environmental issues such as climate change, the survey respondents thought these issues were far in the future and therefore did not consider these issues to impact their health.

The figure below, an excerpt from the WHO Report: Our Planet, Our Health, Our Future  shows there are many global environmental issues such as loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion and climate change are impacting human health.

In fact, global changes to our environment can have a significant impact on human health.  Health Canada has identified seven categories of climate-related health impacts including:

• Temperature related morbidity and mortality
• Weather related natural hazards
• Air quality
• Water and flood borne contamination
• Vector borne and zoonotic diseases
• Health effects and exposure to ultraviolet rays
• Socio-economic impacts on community health and well-being

The following chart from the Canadian Disaster Database shows the increased frequency of weather related disasters in Canada over the last century.

It’s time we started realizing the connection between environment and health!

The two are linked. Institutions such as EcoHealth, Health and Environment Alliance, and  IRDC Ecosystems and Human Health recognize the need for a more integrated approach to the study of environment and health and are promoting and advocating the integration of environment and health.

Next time you hear an environmental news story or conversation about the impacts of climate change or loss of biodiversity, consider not only the effects that it could have on nature but also the effects it could have on human health.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Read more about the Waterloo Study here:

• https://uwaterloo.ca/stories/does-climate-change-affect-your-health

Read the WHO Report: Our Planet, Our Health, Our Future here:

• http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/reports/health_rioconventions.pdf

Read more from Health Canada on climate-related health impacts

• http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/climat/impact/index-eng.php

Read more about the Canadian Disaster Database

• http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/cndn-dsstr-dtbs/index-eng.aspx

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