The Importance of Accessible and Sustainable Healthcare

 

Healthcare has the power to save lives, extend life expectancies, and improve the quality of life for millions of people around the globe. Unfortunately, the current healthcare system falls short in many ways. It is not affordable or accessible for many people; it is not sustainable due to rising costs and unsustainable resource use; and it fails to meet the needs of a growing global population that includes an increasing number of senior citizens.

These limitations are particularly troubling given how essential good access to healthcare is for a happy, healthy, and prosperous life. Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems. Through accessible and sustainable healthcare practices and policies, we have the ability to create a system that meets everyone’s needs while protecting the long-term viability of our planet. Below, the healthcare specialists from the Brooklyn-based multi-specialty center ParCare Community Health Network, explain what can be done by the private sector to support these goals and increase access to quality healthcare in local markets.

 

What is Sustainable Healthcare?

Sustainable healthcare is a system of accessible and affordable healthcare services that meets the needs of all people while protecting the long-term viability of our planet. It is both environmentally sustainable and economically sustainable. It uses resources more efficiently and produces less waste. It also reduces the financial burden of healthcare for individuals and society as a whole.

Achieving sustainable healthcare will require us to make changes in how we provide, fund, and deliver healthcare services. We will need to improve access to care, mobilize new sources of funding, and use different types of delivery models that are better suited to the 21st century. In short, explain from ParCare Community Health Network, we have the opportunity to create a system that is better suited to the needs of patients, providers, and the environment.

 

Access to Healthcare

Unfortunately, many people have inadequate or no access to healthcare. These gaps in coverage can be caused by affordability issues or lack of availability of providers. Providing access to healthcare is essential to improving the quality of life for millions of people. It can help people live healthier and longer lives, avoid or recover from disease and injury, and avoid the harmful effects of pain and suffering. It can also help families and societies save money by avoiding the costs that come with treating illnesses and other negative health outcomes.

Access to healthcare also includes having providers who are culturally competent, knowledgeable about the unique needs of diverse populations, and trained to provide services in a way that respects differences among individuals and groups while responding to their needs.

ParCare is a culturally sensitive health care provider that offers affordable and accessible services to the community. Providing the most comprehensive medical services to every patient is our top priority.

 

Sustainable Practices in Healthcare

The healthcare system currently uses many unsustainable practices that harm the environment and risk depleting natural resources. Some of these unsustainable practices include:

Excessive and inefficient use of energy: The healthcare system is the third largest energy user in the U.S., which is no surprise given the fact that it includes many complex and energy-intensive systems, machines, and procedures. For example, the U.S. health system uses as much electricity as the country’s next 10 largest industries combined.

Unsustainable waste production: The healthcare sector generates a significant amount of non-recyclable waste, which ends up in landfills where it produces harmful greenhouse gases.

Use of unsustainable materials: The healthcare system uses many materials whose extraction and manufacturing processes cause harm to the environment.

 

Key Areas of Improvement

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to improving healthcare sustainability. It requires making changes in a wide range of areas, including the ways we produce and deliver care, the supplies and equipment used in healthcare settings, and the tools we use to monitor and evaluate the system. In all these areas, there are opportunities to make improvements that will benefit the environment and help reduce the financial burden of healthcare on individuals and society.

 

Conclusion

Healthcare is essential to improving and extending lives, improving the quality of life, reducing financial burdens, and protecting the long-term health and vitality of our planet. Sustainable healthcare is a system that achieves all of these goals. It is both environmentally sustainable and economically sustainable. It uses resources more efficiently and produces less waste. It also reduces the financial burden of healthcare for individuals and society as a whole. The healthcare sector can make significant progress towards sustainability by making changes in how it provides, funds, and delivers care. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to achieving these goals. This will require making changes in a wide range of areas, including the ways we produce and deliver care, the supplies and equipment used in healthcare settings, and the tools we use to monitor and evaluate the system.