St. Joseph is the first hospital to incorporate an Eco-friendly mask.

St. Joseph is the first hospital to incorporate an Eco-friendly mask.

St. Joseph Hospital will be the first hospital in all of Ontario to change their medical masks to a new biodegradable mask which was introduced on December 12, this mask promises to protect more staff, physicians, patients, visitors, and the planet.

–https://twitter.com/stjosephslondon/status/1253109582345494530

“We want to support planetary health but also keep our staff and patient safety.”

Lori Higgs, vice president of Clinical Support and Chief Financial Officer at St Joseph’s.

Is it effective?

Made from plant-based biopolymers from renewable crop sources, the new green alternative mask is biodegradable and compostable, meets with the gold standard for protection, and produces 65% less CO2e emission over its life cycle than a synthetic mask.

“Our first step is to absolutely make sure that is up quality for our patients and our staff to wear.”

Lori Higgs, vice president of Clinical Support and Chief Financial Officer at St Joseph’s.

The mask is the VIRALOC eco mask produced by PADM medical base in Winnipeg MB. Because of the large consumption of synthetic masks, thanks to COVID-19 the planet is being affected by the massive source of microplastic in the environment, that’s why this mask will reduce the consumption of this single-use plastic without compromising our health.

“A lot of the products that the hospital use are synthetically made of plastic so we really keep our ears open until we found this biodegradable mas and it was a fantastic found.”

Toby O’Hara, general manager of healthcare materials management services.

This switch is happening gradually for the next couple of days and is expected to be fully implemented by mid-January of 2023 it promises to be less expensive than the medical ones that are currently in use.