In his 20 years as a hospital doctor, Mark de Souza saw more and more victims of a hot weather.
Key points:
- The staff of an NT hospital offers to green their workplace to make it hospitable in a warm climate
- Thermal images in hospital car parks have shown temperatures above 60ºC in December
- Local indigenous elders have been consulted on plant species
“The 20-year-old trader who has no family history of this, but has had three kidney stones. This poor man is every day, chronically dehydrated,” he said.
“He sees more and more children fainting during breaks.
“See these new recruits in Defense who have syncopal [fainting] episodes.
“These are all health impacts of climate change,” Dr. de Souza said.
“From my perspective, as a NT doctor and health worker, [my obligation] is to mitigate the health impacts of climate change and help us adapt to a warming climate so that we can have prosperous lives, but not for the sake of our environment. “
Thermal image of a car park at Royal Darwin Hospital showing December temperatures above 60 ° C. (Provided by: CSIRO Darwin Living Lab)
A jewel of sowing
Royal Darwin Hospital is a 1970s concrete monolith surrounded by acres of bitumen car parks and adjacent buildings.
It is a carbon copy of Canberra Hospital, so it is not designed for tropical climate.
The land is landscaped, but there is shade in many places.
Dr. de Souza, an emergency specialist, has participated in the NT Health Sustainable Health Care Committee, which last year began a day of planting in the hospital.
This west-facing wall, bathed in the sun, will one day be shaded by the seedlings planted below. (ABC Radio Darwin: Conor Byrne)
Committee members are nurses, surgeons, engineers, infection control staff, janitors, pharmacists and apprentices.
“People are starting to hear sprinklers, smelling water on the grass; feeling their skin immediately cool and get wet as they walk through a place where there is evapotranspiration,” Dr. de Souza said.
“They’re listening to the life of birds. They’re smelling flowers. They’re seeing a variety of leaf and flower structures.
“And all of these things are remarkably good for people’s psychological well-being.
“People are going to walk during breaks to defragment themselves after a busy shift or after a difficult encounter with the patient.
“Or they are [members of the public are] dealing with a loved one who is sick in the room or has simply had bad news or is uncomfortable or ill. They want to go outdoors because the natural environment is really restorative for humans.
“That’s what biophilic design is all about. It’s humans who seek nature, which on a deep level makes us feel better.”
Royal Darwin Hospital staff “writes the campus” to brainstorm local climate change mitigation. (Royal Darwin Hospital: Regis Martin)
How to lower the temperature to 20ºC
Thermal images from the December CSIRO showed that hospital parking lots reached 60 degrees Celsius.
With the CSIRO’s Darwin Living Lab, the committee and stakeholders recently toured the grounds for an hour and “marked the campus” to identify hot spots that could be mitigated.
CSIRO coordinator Darwin Living Lab and senior environmental scientist Stephen Cook. (ABC Radio Darwin: Conor Byrne)
Coordinator Stephen Cook said the goal was to understand the movement of patients and staff around campus.
“We have a good setup and a group of people very committed to some fantastic ideas, which really highlight some of the challenges they face in getting around campus and how the heat affects them on a day-to-day basis,” he said. .
“A cool, well – watered area will immediately lower the temperature to 20 degrees.
“Anything we can do to incorporate it into any kind of future development or master planning, would be a great result.”
The committee plans to vegetate concrete retaining walls around the hospital campus. (ABC Radio Darwin: Conor Byrne)
Minor changes make a big difference
Some of the quick projects the committee has underway include trees planted next to sun-drenched buildings, planters and a fledgling native forest.
There are plans for native vines on trellis along shaded walkways and better infrastructure for bicycles and pedestrians.
“This is a great example of how with some minor adjustments at very cost-effective prices, we could transform structures into things that cool and shade throughout the day,” Dr. Souza said.
The bicycle shed is being targeted as a source of volunteers. (ABC Radio Darwin: Conor Byrne)
“We have been working with Larrakia seniors to commission them to provide their plants of cultural importance, especially those plants that are traditionally cured or that have a heritage of bush tucker.
“In general, indigenous people don’t like being in air-conditioned environments and they go outside regularly. [where it] … it can be difficult to offer attention, especially when they have a drip in their arm and need regular observations.
“Some patients actually leave the hospital before treatment is over. And that can lead to really bad health outcomes and sometimes even death.
“On a psychological level, we want the campus to be much more welcoming to Aboriginal patients.”
New plantings and irrigation in the “Smoker’s Pavilion” of the Royal Darwin Hospital (ABC Radio Darwin: Conor Byrne)
A “smoker’s pavilion” is not a place one might expect health professionals to spend their gardening time, but the committee believes it is an important part of the enclosure and worthy of being surrounded by native trees.
“It’s actually one of the most beautiful spaces to be during the day,” Dr. de Souza said.
“Sometimes I think I should start smoking just to appreciate this place more,” he joked.
Future projects include improving bike lanes and walking around the hospital to discourage car use.
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Posted 5 hours 5 hours ago from June 25, 2022 at 9:54 PM, updated 5 hours ago from June 25, 2022 at 9:59 PM