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Clinical Care & Patient Engagement

Share with patients and colleagues how climate change relates to their health and the steps they can take to protect themselves and their families. There are many resources available to equip you to engage meaningfully on climate in your clinical or other health-related setting. 

First, utilize ClimateRx tools. Practice using conversation starters to engage patients, distribute ClimateRx badges to your colleagues, organize a Climate for Health Ambassador Training to get more people on board, and share the other tools on this site.


​Having more of your peers engaged with these simple tools can make it a lot easier to build to larger actions.

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​In partnership with Harvard School of Public Health C-CHANGE, Americares has launched the Climate Resilient Clinics Toolkit. This includes printable factsheets in English and Spanish for patients, clinicians, and administrators on extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and more.

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These resources provide actionable and clinically relevant advice for providers and patients and they include practical guidance for clinic administrators to be prepared for these events.

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The Boston Children's Hospital Pediatric Environmental Health Center has developed printable tools that describe the impacts of climate change on health in plain language, provides an action plan for patients, and outlines community resources to support them. This includes individualized tools for heat, extreme weather, asthma & allergies, nutrition, infectious disease, sea level rise & flooding, mental health, and climate advocacy. These tools are available in English and Spanish.

Public Health Resilience and Adaptation

Outside of the clinical setting, public health practitioners and all health professionals can help to drive meaningful action that address the immediate impacts of climate change on community health.

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The Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework provides a structure and tools to improve preparation and resilience to climate impacts. You can be a leader on climate solutions and bring immediate health benefits to your local community.

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  • Take the “BRACE: A Public Health Model for Climate Action” Training to learn about the updated BRACE Framework and accompanying Implementation Guide.

  • Discover if your local or state jurisdiction is using the BRACE Framework and, if not, consider how it could be used to strengthen initiatives.

  • Work with your colleagues to strengthen and advance public health climate actions using the BRACE Framework.​​

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Extreme heat kills more people each year than all other extreme weather events combined and disproportionately affects frontline communities. Fortunately, many, if not most, heat-related illnesses and deaths are preventable.

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Sustainability and Emissions Reduction

About 8.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US are from the health sector. Hospitals can make incredible improvements to overall emissions through a range of activities including their energy source, building efficiency, ambulance fleet, supply chain, and more efficient use of medical supplies. Since climate change is such a profound risk to health, reducing emissions is a key climate solution that protects health.

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Get involved in reducing emissions at your facility!

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  • If there is already a sustainability task force or a "Green Team", join them and encourage others to do the same. If there isn’t one yet, you can start one! 

  • Use the Practice GreenHealth Emissions Calculator to assess your facility's emissions. This tool includes action plans to immediately start reducing emissions.

 

With any or all of these​ actions, your efforts will be stronger with more people on your team. Use the ClimateRx resources and the Climate for Health Ambassador Training as a way to recruit more people to this work.​

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