Nourish Launches New Program to Mobilize Climate Action in Canadian Hospitals
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Montreal (June 15, 2023) - Today, Nourish released its Planetary Health Menus program to provide the Canadian health sector with the tools to quantify climate action and improve menus to offer food that is better for patients and the planet. Hospitals are invited to take bold action to reduce their environmental impact, use their budget wisely through reduced food waste and plant-forward menus, and offer patients foods that heal.
“The health care sector is responsible for five per cent of global emissions and the Planetary Health Menus program provides a timely resource for hospital leaders to reduce their footprint,” said Jen Reynolds, Co-Executive Director of Nourish. “We are aiming to work with 100 hospitals in Canada by 2025 and we invite health care providers to achieve significant sustainability goals by engaging in this important work,” continued Reynolds.
The Planetary Health Menus program already has the support of early adopters including Victoria Brzozowski, Environmental Management Lead at Hamilton Health Sciences. ”If we can find a way to provide better, more delicious, and more climate-conscious food to our patients – we need to act on it. Being an early adopter to the Coolfood project will give us another lever to advance the crucial patient and planet-focused menu updates required for Hamilton Health Sciences to become a resilient, inclusive, and future-ready health care provider,” stated Brzozowski.
Elaine Chu, RD, Regional Manager of Food Operations at Royal Columbian Hospital and Eagle Ridge Hospital in Fraser Health is another early adopter. “I am thrilled to be part of the Coolfood Pledge to leverage the power of food in hospitals and calculate our climate action. The Planetary Health Menus program provides an exciting opportunity for the health sector to improve menus and access tools that will guide food choices to bring wellness to patients and the planet," said Chu.
The Planetary Health Menus program kicks off with a webinar at 12:00 pm ET featuring innovative leaders in this space. The program offers various tools to guide health care leaders including the Values-Based Procurement of Food in Health Care, the Sustainable Menu Guide, and the Coolfood Pledge — a partnership with the World Resources Institute to assist organizations to commit and achieve science-based targets which currently impacts 3.5 billion meals annually. “As a former food services coordinator, I know the power of baseline metrics as a launchpad for improvements. With these new offerings, food service teams can quantify their climate impact, which is essential to setting and achieving sustainability goals," said Amy Ford, Nourish Climate Program Manager.
Nourish invites all health care leaders to realize the many benefits of improving their menus and food procurement, from reduced food waste and foods that heal to plant-forward climate solutions. Visit Planetary Health Menus to learn more.
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Nourish empowers health care to embrace food as medicine to advance health equity, climate action, and community wellbeing. We work to harness the untapped and neglected power of food in health care to transition to food and health systems that build health for patients and the planet.
Media Contact: Lana Brandt, Communications Manager
Phone: 778.833.2954 Email: lbrandt@nourishleadership.ca