Eco ‘Lunch & Learn’ On Healthcare Costs
Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce [BEST] and the Bermuda College announced the fifth presentation in their Eco Lunch & Learns series on Thursday, March 28 from 1.00pm to 2.00pm at the Bermuda College, in The North Hall, Room G301.
A spokesperson said, “Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce [BEST] and the Bermuda College are very pleased to announce the fifth presentation in their Eco Lunch & Learns series on Thursday, March 28, 2019.
“Bermuda’s healthcare costs are on an unsustainable path. Healthcare costs are projected to hit 1 billion in the next five years. Government now spends more on healthcare than any other sector, including servicing our debt.
“Laure Marshall is a healthcare analytics professional that has been helping hospitals understand their performance through data for the last 10 years. She has worked with NHS hospitals in the UK and hospitals in the US. Laure now works in Bermuda at Nova Limited, building analytics tools for Bermuda’s hospital system. Laure sits on the board of the Bermuda Health Council.
“Laure explains, ‘As a healthcare analyst, I keep up to date on healthcare reports on Bermuda’s population. There are a lot of very high quality reports out there that I think few people outside of healthcare are aware of. These reports demonstrate that the state of healthcare in Bermuda is very precarious. I hope that this presentation will inspire locals to access these reports to learn more for themselves, and also to engage in finding solutions to fix our broken healthcare system.’
“During her presentation, Laure will provide insights into why healthcare in Bermuda is so expensive by summarizing information available in public reports published by the Ministry of Health, Bermuda Health Council and Department of Statistics. This data provides an overview of Bermuda’s health status and how Bermuda’s health outcomes compare globally. Laure’s study reveals how our health impacts what healthcare services we utilise and how that utilisation impacts healthcare costs.
“Amy Harvey, the Earth and Environmental Science lecturer at the Bermuda College, said, ‘Healthcare sustainability is strongly linked to the environment as most of it is about reactive care currently and not preventative care that should focus on healthy lifestyles that are environmentally sound. If we as a society ate healthier, less processed food, the hope would be a reduction on the high demands on our healthcare system for diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that can be prevented by a living a healthy lifestyle. In turn, this would have a positive impact on our environment as healthy food that is locally sourced tends to have less packaging and a lower carbon footprint. A healthy society and a healthy environment go hand in hand.’
“Kim Smith, Executive Director at BEST added ‘Pay the farmer now or pay the doctor later’ is a quote that serves as a reminder of the connection between health and the quality of food we consume. The demand on health care has reached a point that is economically crippling and unsustainable. Now is the time for us to make the changes in our habits to start to turn things around.’
“BEST and Bermuda College invite the public to bring along their lunch and learn more from Bermuda’s environmentalists on how you too can make a difference in addressing the environmental issues affecting Bermuda today. This is a free event and no registration is required. The event is held at the Bermuda College, in The North Hall, Room G301 from 1 to 2pm.
“For more information, please visit BESTs website: www.best.org.bm”
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