Prioritizing Environmental Stewardship in Health Care

11/08/22 • 20 min

In times of financial hardship, it can be challenging to prioritize investments in projects make sweeping commitments to that address matters such as the climate crisis. But with health impacts related to environmental degradation becoming an increasing part of our daily lives, such investments have never been more important.

Indu Spugnardi, CHA Director of Advocacy and Resource Development, and Gary Cohen, President of Health Care Without Harm, join the podcast to discuss the urgent need to prioritize environmental stewardship in health care work. They address financial incentives to advance environmental sustainability, areas where systems can make the most impactful changes, and the Laudato Si' Action Platform, a Vatican-led initiative to inspire radical change in the fight against climate change.

Resources

CHA’s Environment page
Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home (Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical)
Watch “The Letter” a documentary commissioned from The Vatican about Laudato Si’ and the ecological crisis facing our planet
Health Care Without Harm’s Official Website
Visit COP27’s official website to follow updates from the 2022 United Nations Climate Conference
How Health Care Can Lead the Way on Renewable Energy (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)
Combating Global Warming: Healthy Climate, Healthy People (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)
Thinking Green on Behalf of Patients and Workers (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)

Resources

CHA’s Environment page
Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home (Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical)
Watch “The Letter” a documentary commissioned from The Vatican about Laudato Si’ and the ecological crisis facing our planet
Health Care Without Harm’s Official Website
Visit COP27’s official website to follow updates from the 2022 United Nations Climate Conference
How Health Care Can Lead the Way on Renewable Energy (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)
Combating Global Warming: Healthy Climate, Healthy People (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)
Thinking Green on Behalf of Patients and Workers (Health Progress article authored by Gary Cohen)

Previous Episode

Writing Your System’s Racial Autobiography

One of the first steps of engaging in meaningful Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work involves examining our own history of racial inequity. How have our organizations contributed to structural racism, and how can we work to be more accountable for the past?

Professors M. Therese Lysaught and Sheri Bartlett Browne join Brian Reardon and CHA’s Editor of Health Progress Betsy Taylor to discuss their Spring 2022 article entitled, “Writing Your System’s Racial Autobiography.” Lysaught and Browne give insight into how their work together started and how they’ve seen health systems respond to doing the hard work of visiting the past.

Resources

“Writing Your System’s Racial Autobiography” article from the Spring 2022 edition of Health Progress

We Are Called website

CHA’s Diversity and Disparities web page

Next Episode

Advocating for Just Wages in Health Care

The COVID-19 pandemic cast a spotlight on labor practices in the United States, leading to a “great reckoning” in 2022. How does Catholic health care fit into the larger conversation about labor?

Editor of Health Progress Betsy Taylor joins the show to discuss a recent article co-authored by Daniel Graff, director of the Higgins Labor Program at the University of Notre Dame, and Kelli Reagan, a consultant at the Francesco Collaborative. Graff and Reagan also join the conversation to discuss their work in the labor sector and how Catholic health care can serve as a trendsetter when it comes to just labor practices.

Resource
Health Progress article: Just Wages for the Workforce: Why Health Care Should Lead the Way