THE GREENING OF HEALTHCARE: FABRICS USED IN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
The greening of healthcare textiles is a topic of great importance for the overall greened of healthcare spaces due to the large number of chemicals used in the production of fabrics.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION “There is no separation between environmental issues and health issues” (Smith and Lourie, 2010 a). Researchers from Environment Canada (Muir and Zegarac, 2001) estimate that North American healthcare costs and lost productivity linked to environmental factors total between $568 billion and $793 billion per year ($46 billion and $52 billion for Canada alone). These are staggering numbers and could be easily overlooked when various government budgets are examined as “silos” and the interconnectivity of the environment and health care costs are not considered. They are costs borne both financially and in terms of quality of life. The greening of healthcare textiles is a topic of great importance for the overall greening of healthcare spaces due to the large number of chemicals used in the production of fabrics. Both patients and healthcare workers are exposed to these chemicals through dermal contact, inhalation, and ingestion. Hospital “green” teams and purchasing agents need to be aware of ho...