“天才奖”获得者打造更健康的医院
(2015-10-14 12:33:14)分类: 美国人物 |
医生们誓言“不造成伤害”(do no harm),但他们所在的医院是否也能做到呢?今年的“麦克阿瑟奖”(MacArthur Fellows Program),即为人们所熟知的“天才奖”(genius grants)的获奖者之一正在努力确保医院遵循一个更高的可持续性标准。
几十年来,加里·科恩(Gary Cohen)一直在领导一场制止医院向周围环境释放危险毒素的静悄悄的革命。每年都有打破的温度计泄出一种危险的神经毒素——汞。广泛使用的医疗废物焚烧炉也将致癌污染物排放到空气中。
科恩在接受麦克阿瑟基金会(MacArthur Foundation)的采访时说:“医院为了治愈病人而毒害人类与环境这一事实简直是不可思议。”
他的组织,“无伤害医疗服务”(Health Care Without Harm),成功地领导了制止医疗焚烧炉和汞污染的运动,最终促成了一项到2020年逐步淘汰使用汞的医疗设备的全球性条约[请见英文网页]。现在,“无伤害医疗服务”已在50多个国家拥有合作伙伴,并且医院也越来越认真地承担起对环境的责任。
没有附加条件的“天才奖”
科恩说,他还没有决定如何使用麦克阿瑟基金会颁发的62.5万美元奖金。由于该奖金没有任何附加条件,这给了他重要的“喘息空间”,来确定接下来的步骤。
他说:“无伤害医疗服务现在从事的重要工作是使医疗机构在我们应对气候变化的能力方面起到根本性的作用。” 无论是通过自愿采用可再生能源、防灾害建筑,还是基于社区的健康项目的行动计划,科恩的目标都是在世界范围内推广有益于患者和环境健康的医院。
每年,麦克阿瑟奖都会向多个研究领域的20到30位极具创造力的个人颁发“天才奖”。今年的获奖者中包括一位有影响力的记者和畅销书作家塔-那西斯·寇茨(Ta-Nehisi Coates),以及一位第三代木偶艺术大师巴塞尔·特威斯特(Basil Twist)。
Doctors pledge to “do no harm,” but what about the hospitals that house them? A winner of one of this year’s “genius grants,” as MacArthur Fellows Program awards are known, is trying to make sure hospitals adhere to a higher standard of sustainability.
For decades, Gary Cohen led a quiet revolution against dangerous toxins that made their way from hospitals into the environment. Every year, broken thermometers would spill mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin. Widespread use of medical-waste incinerators would spew cancer-causing pollutants into the air.
“The fact that hospitals were poisoning people and the environment in service of healing them, it was crazy,” said Cohen in an interview with the MacArthur Foundation.
His organization, Health Care Without Harm, led successful campaigns against medical incinerators and mercury, culminating in a global treaty phasing out mercury-based medical equipment by 2020. Now, Health Care Without Harm has partners in more than 50 countries, and hospitals are getting serious about environmental responsibility.
‘Geniuses’ with no strings attached
Cohen says he is still deciding how to use the $625,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation. With no strings attached, the award gives him important “breathing room” to determine next steps.
“The critical work that Health Care Without Harm is doing now is to have health care institutions play a fundamental role in our ability to address climate change,” he said. Whether that’s through volunteer initiatives to adopt renewable energy, resilient architecture or community-based health programs, Cohen aims to bring the world more healthy hospitals for patients and the environment.
Every year, the MacArthur Fellows Program awards 20 to 30 “genius grants” to creative individuals in many fields of study. This year, awardees include Ta-Nehisi Coates, an influential journalist and bestselling writer, as well as Basil Twist, a third-generation master of puppetry.