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October 9, 2024
Get to Know the SHE Center Team
Meet Madeline Campbell, MPH
The Center for Sustainability, Health, and the Environment (SHE Center) recently welcomed Madeline (Maddie) Campbell as its newest employee and first Program Coordinator! Maddie is a Milwaukee native who recently completed her Master’s in Public Health concentrating in Environmental Health Sciences at the UW-Milwaukee. She has a background working in healthcare, specifically population health, and her interest in the environment and sustainability began with her time living in rural Tanzania while working with the Peace Corps.
Welcome, Maddie!
News & Updates
SHE Center at Climate Week NYC: Academic Medicine, Climate Action, and Environmental Justice
On September 25, director of MCW’s SHE Center, Christa Wagner, PhD, hosted a panel discussion at Climate Week NYC focused on academic medicine, climate action, and environmental justice. The panel included representatives from the Association of American Medical Colleges, The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Climate Week NYC is the largest annual
climate event of its kind, with over 900 events and activities across the City of New York. International participants span represent climate interests from the sectors of business, government, finance, industry, academia, and more.
Read the full News Story on Infoscope here.
Watch the Recording of the Discussion here.
Preventing Food Waste - MCW Campus Waste Diversion Project
If you anticipate having leftover food after a catered event on campus, you are invited to donate the leftovers for distribution to MCW students! Help to reduce waste and support students by completing the Campus Food Conservation Resource Donation Form at least three business days prior to your event to make arrangements. For more information, contact Jennifer Kusch, PhD, MS, MPH at jkusch@mcw.edu.
MCW Participates in Lac Du Flambeau Family Circles Professional Development Training
In mid-August, the Ojibwe Waaswaganing community welcomed 14 students, faculty, and staff from MCW to the Lac Du Flambeau Reservation for a Family Circles Professional Development Training hosted by the Waaswaganing Indigenous Institute Teaching Learning and Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council in partnership with MCW’s Division of Epidemiology & Social Sciences and the Office of Global Health.
The event focused on creating partnerships with tribal communities to promote American Indian representation in academia. Participants attended discussions on the importance of sustainability in the indigenous connection with the earth, language and cultural teachings, conversations on Ojibwe history, and the effect of residential schools on indigenous communities. A special thank you to Brian Jackson, PhD, M.Ed., Assistant Professor of Epidemiology & Social Sciences in the Institute for Health & Equity for facilitating!
Greening MRMC - Our Cold-Weather Almond Grove!
In September, the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center’s landscape team planted nearly 40 cold-weather almond trees as part of an initiative to “green” MCW. If these trees thrive and successfully produce nuts, it will contribute to proof of principle that these varieties of almond are able to grow outside of warm weather regions such as California and the Mediterranean. Come back to future newsletters for almond progress updates and opportunities to beautify the grove, or check out the grove in front of MRMC Thermal on Watertown Plank Road!
Submit Your Clinical Manifestations of Climate Change to NEJM
Do you have any pictures that you feel capture the clinical impacts of the climate crisis? The New England Journal of Medicine is calling for climate and health image submissions for their Earth Month 2025 issue, with a deadline of January 1, 2025. Read and review the full submission process here.
We Want Your Feedback: Commuter Choice Survey
The Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (MRMC) is looking for feedback on the ways that people commute to work and what might make more sustainable alternative options like carpooling, public transportation, and cycling more appealing. Please complete this survey by Friday, November 1 and be entered to win a prize for your participation.
SHE Center Team Outing to a Brewers Game
SHE Center team members and colleagues had the opportunity to cheer the Brew Crew on to a 6 - 2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of the regular season! It was a fun opportunity for all to share some time together outside of the office.
Upcoming Events
Solutions for Common GHG Inventory Obstacles, Oct. 9 at 1pm (CST) – Learn how Practice Greenhealth partners Northwell Health, SSM Health, and AdventHealth have conducted their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. Gain strategies for developing strong governance, establishing decarbonization goals in partnership with different stakeholders, and collecting and analyzing necessary data. Learn how our experts utilized an enterprise scaled approach including a cloud-based emissions inventory and publishing annual sustainability reports.
Longevity and Environmental Exposures, Uncovering the Links to Age-Related Diseases, Oct. 16 at 12 pm (CST) – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will be hosting a new Environment and Health webinar series; the next session will feature R. Sean Morrison, MD, FAAHPM, Ellen and Howard C. Katz Professor and Chair, Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, and his insights on how environmental factors such as air pollution and temperature may influence age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other related dementias. Robert Wright, MD, MPH, Co-Director, Institute for Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Exposomics, will join him to discuss ways to support our aging population by addressing environmental and lifestyle risk factors.
MCW Community Garden Cleanup, Oct. 21 at 11 am
MCW’s community garden, located in the HUB courtyard, will be closing after a successful inaugural season. Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) are organizing the cleanup on Thursday, October 21st at 11:00 am. Student volunteers interested in being part of this effort, please register here.
Climate Action and Sustainability in Academic Medicine Collaborative Meeting, Oct. 31 from 1 – 2pm (CST) – AAMC's Climate Action and Sustainability in Academic Medicine community will be hosting their next collaborative meeting focused on Medical Directors of Sustainability. More than 90% of academic hospitals have now appointed a Medical Director of Sustainability, leading this trend among hospitals and health systems. If you are not available during the meeting time, registration will give you access to the recording.
Native Nations Nursing, Helpers, and Healers Summit, Nov. 1 from 8 – 4 pm – The Native Nations Nursing, Helpers, and Healers Summit, co-hosted by MCW, will focus on education for the interprofessional team about evidence-based approaches for optimal, culturally congruent health care for Native American people and communities. Summit speakers will highlight best practices for holistic care, interprofessional collaboration, whole-person care, and culturally-specific trauma-informed care. The event includes career advancement opportunities within nursing and continuing education for RNs, advanced practice nurses, physicians, psychologists, and social workers.
Health Climate Wisconsin Conference: Power Shift: Turning the Tide for Health and Energy Justice, Nov. 15 – 16 – This year’s Healthy Climate Wisconsin Conference will focus on the interaction between environmental factors and social determinants of health to impact population health. The agenda will feature panels, case studies, and collaborative sessions to develop insights on how to develop healthy spaces for all of Wisconsin’s residents to enjoy. If you are interested in presenting a poster, poster abstracts are due October 25.
What We're Reading
Lessons for patient safety to accelerate healthcare decarbonization - Singh - Journal of Hospital Medicine - Wiley Online Library
From Pollution to Progress: Encouraging Milwaukee Students to Love Their Air | US Climate Resilience Toolkit
"Forever chemicals" show up in Wisconsin residents | UW School of Medicine and Public Health
TILclimate: A public health expert's guide to climate change (podcast)
Funding Opportunities
Deadline November 4, 2024: AHW Momentum Grant
Interested parties are invited to apply for grants of up to $250,000 for 24-month projects (beginning July 1, 2025) from AHW’s Community-Led Momentum grant. Projects should support community driven efforts to implement new public and community health strategies, develop innovative programs and resources to advance Wisconsin’s current or future health workforce, and carry out novel efforts to inform policy and practice to advance health and health equity in Wisconsin. Learn more.
Deadline November 21, 2024: Environmental Protection Agency Community Change Grant: Approximately $2 billion dollars in Inflation Reduction Act funds is available to support environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. Learn more.
Resources & More
MCW is a member of several consortia and membership organizations with different resources to support engagement in climate action in academic medicine. Contact us for any assistance in signing up!
Global Consortium for Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) aims to unite health professional training institutions, health societies, and regional health organizations to create a global climate-ready health sector, prepared to mobilize and lead health promotion and response in the era of climate change, while restoring the health of the planet. Learn more and join here.
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Climate Action Virtual Community provides meaningful connection to the myriad people in academic medical centers working across mission areas to address the climate crisis and improve institutional resiliency. Request an account using your MCW email address here. Once your account has been approved, click here to join the Climate Action and Sustainability group.
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals. Learn more.
Interested in learning more about the SHE Center at an upcoming MCW departmental, institute, or center faculty and/or staff meeting? Email Dr. Wagner to schedule.
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