A report from the House Ways and Means Committee shows how the health industry is contributing to climate change, with certain emissions rising 6% between 2010 and 2018. A separate AP report reminds how climate change can jeopardize health services, including via wildfires and smoke.
Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Industry On Defense In Climate Crisis: Report Greenhouse gases released from the healthcare sector make up 10% of total U.S. emissions, and they continue to grow. According to the report, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gas emissions rose 6% between 2010 and 2018, resulting in the loss of 388,000 disability-adjusted life-years. The House Ways and Means Committee published these findings in conjunction with a hearing on the subject Thursday. (Hartnett, 9/15)
AP: Climate Change Jeopardizes Health Care Services, Report Says Dr. Suzy Fitzgerald remembers looking out the windows as wildfire flames surrounded the hospital where she worked. “We had fire in all three directions,” Fitzgerald recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh gosh, this is serious. We need to get these people out.’” Fitzgerald helped with the evacuation of 122 patients from Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Rosa Medical Center on that night nearly five years ago, as the blaze gobbled up homes and buildings across Northern California. The hospital, which had filled with smoke, closed for 17 days. Medical centers around the country say that fires, flooding, heat waves and other extreme weather are jeopardizing medical services, damaging health care facilities and forcing patients to flee their hospital beds, according to a report released Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee. (Seitz, 9/15)
Read the report from the House Ways and Means Committee —
HEALTH CARE AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS: PREPARING AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE INFRASTRUCTURE
We want to hear from you: Contact Us
A Disability Program Promised to Lift People From Poverty. Instead, It Left Many Homeless.
With Polio’s Return, Here’s What Back-to-Schoolers Need to Know
New Abortion Laws Jeopardize Cancer Treatment for Pregnant Patients
Impending Hospital Closure Rattles Atlanta Health Care Landscape and Political Races
© 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Thank you for your interest in supporting Kaiser Health News (KHN), the nation’s leading nonprofit newsroom focused on health and health policy. We distribute our journalism for free and without advertising through media partners of all sizes and in communities large and small. We appreciate all forms of engagement from our readers and listeners, and welcome your support.
KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). You can support KHN by making a contribution to KFF, a non-profit charitable organization that is not associated with Kaiser Permanente.
Click the button below to go to KFF’s donation page which will provide more information and FAQs. Thank you!