The LIFE RESYSTAL project has gathered key actors from seven local communities to ensure regional healthcare is resilient to climate change. Hospital personnel, first responders, engineers, urban planners, health experts, and local government representatives across multiple European countries will co-design, test, and seek opportunities to implement adaptation measures.
Our changing climate and the rising frequency of extreme weather events have serious implications for our health systems. It affects hospitals and healthcare systems operationally, financially, and structurally but also directly impacts the health of their patients and communities.
Current climate change adaptation strategies focus primarily on enhancing the resilience of critical infrastructures, such as energy, transport, and buildings, but they overlook the healthcare sector and its dependency on those infrastructures.
The LIFE RESYSTAL project started in September 2021 and aims to address this gap, protecting both healthcare infrastructure and patients by ensuring that the sector is prepared for, and resilient to, the impacts of climate change.
“Climate change negatively affects our health and our healthcare infrastructure. That is why the Galician Health Service (SERGAS) has decided to participate in the LIFE RESYSTAL project both as a pilot health system but also by bringing three pilot hospitals from Ourense to become pilot hospitals in the project.” – Cristina Enjamio, Former Director of Economic Resources – Healthcare Area of Ourense, Verin and O Barco de Valdeorras
Developed and piloted through close collaboration with seven hospitals and two regional health systems, the project’s tools and resources will allow any European healthcare provider to identify the climate risks they face and implement cost-effective measures to enhance resilience.
By gathering personnel from across local communities, the LIFE RESYSTAL project ensures that not only hospitals are prepared for the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events but also the critical infrastructures they depend on.
Are you interested in using the project’s tools and resources to improve your healthcare facility’s climate resilience? Join our Scaling Network to help shape the project and be among the first healthcare facilities to be able to use its various tools and resources.