Extreme heat is becoming one of Canada’s fastest-growing health threats, yet many health facilities remain unprepared for dangerous indoor temperatures. This presentation shares early results from a national multi-year project led by the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care assessing heat-health risks in long-term care, acute care, clinics, and home care settings. Using data loggers, surveys, and low-cost interventions, the project identifies practical, scalable strategies to protect vulnerable patients and build climate-resilient care environments.

Session Objectives

• Identify how extreme indoor heat affects patients, residents, and health-care workers across diverse care settings.
• Describe low-tech, high-impact interventions that can immediately reduce indoor heat risks.
• Assess facility preparedness using real-world monitoring tools such as temperature/humidity loggers and heat-health surveys.
• Apply resilience-focused strategies co-designed with communities, demonstration sites, and a national advisory committee.

Bacterial outbreaks from healthcare plumbing systems threaten increasingly vulnerable populations as demographics shift. The upcoming CSA Z317.1 – Special Requirements for Plumbing Installations in Health Care Facilities provides updated standards and tools to help future-proof facilities against waterborne pathogens. With the new edition slated for March 2026, this session will outline key changes and practical strategies CHES members can use to safeguard patients and residents through resilient, sustainable plumbing design and operation.

Session Objectives

After attending this session, attendees will be able to:

• Understand the key risks and contributing factors associated with water system management in healthcare facilities.
• Identify the major updates and new requirements introduced in the upcoming edition of CSA Z317.1.
• Develop a strategy to implement a facility-specific water management program (WMP) that incorporates both preventative measures and response/remediation planning.

Healthcare facilities are complex environments where building performance directly impacts safety, quality of care, and operational reliability. The new CSA Z8008, Assessments of health care facilities, services, and building systems provides a framework for evaluating building condition, functionality, and compliance at the current stage of the facilities’ lifecycle. This presentation introduces CHES members to the standard, assessment types, and how it supports planning for the future with safer, more sustainable, and resilient healthcare facilities.

Session Objectives

• Understand the purpose and scope of the CSA Z8008 Facility Assessment Standard and how it complements and supports other CSA healthcare standards such as Z8000 and Z317.1.
• Understand how the Standard can support healthcare facilities to self-perform or engage consultants to complete unified and coordinate assessments of the functionality of the facility as well as the underlying building system conditions
• Apply the Z8008 assessment framework to guide systems evaluation, performance monitoring, and risk mitigation of existing healthcare facilities.
• Understand how the Standard can assist with evaluating a facility’s ‘fit for purpose’, to determine its functional and technical capability to safely meet complex healthcare needs.

Melanie Cairns, Forensic Electrical Engineer and Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator with SMS Engineering, explores how forensic engineering can future-proof aging healthcare facilities.

By identifying root causes of system failures and applying lessons from past incidents, SMS Engineering demonstrates how proactive forensic insights guide infrastructure renewal, optimize capital investments, and enhance patient safety.

Session Objectives

Attendees will gain practical strategies for:

• Revitalizing aging infrastructure through forensic-informed retrofit planning.
• Enhancing climate adaptation and disaster preparedness by learning from past failures.
• Deploying capital effectively by avoiding unnecessary replacements and focusing on root-cause solutions.
• Improving patient and staff safety through targeted upgrades to critical systems.

Attendees will learn practical strategies for integrating forensic diagnostics into lifecycle planning to build resilient, sustainable healthcare environments.

This multidisciplinary roundtable explores how the new Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) was planned and designed to support the evolving needs of a rural healthcare setting through mass timber construction, geothermal heating and cooling, energy recovery systems, resilient infrastructure strategies, and climate risk analysis.

Representatives from the owner, architecture, mechanical, and electrical engineering teams will discuss how integrated design decisions contribute to long-term adaptability, operational efficiency, patient experience, and future-ready performance.

Session Objectives

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify how rural geographic and service delivery conditions influence infrastructure, system selection, and facility planning at PECMH.
• Describe how coordinated collaboration between owner, architect, mechanical, and electrical teams supported sustainable and resilient design outcomes.
• Assess the role of mass timber, geothermal systems, energy recovery strategies, and climate risk analysis in improving lifecycle performance, operational efficiency, and patient experience.

This session will summarize current research findings and best practices from the Displacement Ventilation Emergence in Healthcare (DiVE) multi-year research and engagement initiative that seeks to advance the application of DV in Healthcare. In keeping with the theme, the session will focus on how DV is optimally suited for Long Term Care homes.  A growing ""coalition of the willing"" are advocating for DV to become the new default for healthcare.  Come join us!

Session Objectives

The learning objectives are for attendees to come away with greater ability to: 

• Assess the applicability of DV to their specific context or project 
• Identify myths and misconceptions of DV (and be aware of a more accurate perspective) 
• Engage interest holders in their context to explore the beneficial application of DV where appropriate 

Discover how modular and prefabricated construction is transforming healthcare access in remote and Indigenous communities. The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) Redevelopment Project—a $1.8 billion initiative—aims to deliver culturally safe, patient-centered care through rapid, cost-effective infrastructure. Learn how innovative design meets community priorities, reduces construction time, and addresses long-standing barriers to care across the western James Bay and Hudson Bay regions. Join us to explore this groundbreaking approach to equitable healthcare delivery.

Session Objectives

• Identify Barriers to Healthcare Access in Remote Communities
• Assess Cultural Relevance in Healthcare Facility Design 
• Explore Modular and Prefabricated Construction Solutions
• Create Community-Engaged Implementation Strategies 

From economic policy changes to shifting demographics, artificial intelligence to alternate project delivery, shifting care sites to specialty care services, carbon reduction to climate resiliency – lets take a deep dive into the current health sector trends and how they are shaping our world.

In this high energy, high impact presentation, Tariq will take the audience on an evidence based deep dive into the trends that are shaping the delivery of health across the country.

Session Objectives

• Analyze the Impact of Demographic and Policy Shifts: Examine how slowing population growth, aging demographics, and evolving policy trends are influencing healthcare service demand, care models, and workforce challenges.
• Explore Flexible and Futureproof Healthcare Planning: Discuss strategies for designing adaptable healthcare facilities and masterplans that can respond to changing technologies, care delivery models, and climate resiliency needs.
• Evaluate the Role of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Design: Assess how artificial intelligence and intelligent design solutions are transforming healthcare operations, reducing capital construction costs, and improving patient outcomes.
• Identify Approaches for Sustainable and Specialized Care Delivery: Review methods for balancing economic constraints, technological integration, and specialty service expansion to ensure healthcare systems remain responsive and sustainable for all age groups.

This session will present steps to harness the power of indoor air quality (IAQ) management to decrease healthcare-associated infectionss, promote patient healing, improve staff productivity and satisfaction, and sustain hospital financial viability.

Session Objectives

• Articulate the impact of indoor environments on both infectious and non-infectious diseases
• Design and operate buildings according to real-time and predicted indoor and outdoor air quality
• Create cost/benefit analyses that include the value of healthy occupants

Keaton’s House Children’s Hospice is a first-of-its-kind pediatric hospice in the Hamilton region, designed as a Net Zero Carbon Ready, 24-hour clinical care environment. This session explores how mechanical, electrical, and passive systems were engineered in tandem with a domestic, single-storey architectural form to deliver resilience, clinical safety, and profound emotional support. Attendees will learn how engineering strategy, sustainability, and therapeutic design converged to create a model for future pediatric hospice environments.

Session Objectives

• Describe the integrated mechanical and passive design strategies used to achieve Net Zero Carbon readiness in a 24-hour pediatric care environment.
• Identify the engineering requirements unique to pediatric hospice programs and how they inform ventilation, filtration, and thermal comfort solutions.
• Assess how single-storey architectural planning enhances system efficiency, clinical responsiveness, and operational resilience.
• Explain how engineering decisions support therapeutic goals, sensory regulation, and culturally significant practices within a hospice setting.

Healthcare facilities face increasing threats from climate events, cyber risks, and aging infrastructure. This session explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent building solutions transform resiliency—enabling proactive risk management, sustainability, and reliable care delivery. Through real-world case studies and strategic frameworks, attendees will gain practical insights for leveraging advanced technologies and collaborative approaches to future-proof health systems and promote operational, environmental, and business success.

Session Objectives

• Evaluate the evolving definition of healthcare resiliency and why it matters.
• Identify practical applications of AI and smart infrastructure for risk mitigation, sustainability, and reliability.
• Explore case studies demonstrating measurable benefits in energy costs, patient experience, and environmental impact.
• Develop a strategic roadmap for implementing resilient and sustainable practices in healthcare facilities.

Quebec’s Long-term Care Facilities: Maisons des Aînés — An Electromechanical Perspective

Context:

The province of Quebec, like many regions around the world, was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Long-term care facilities were among the hardest hit, and the quality of these existing institutions was rightfully questioned and criticized.

Objectives:

Enhance contamination control, improve resident comfort, discreetly integrate healthcare systems, and create warm, home-like, innovative environments for long-term care facilities.

Session Objectives

• Describe Quebec's vision to improve Long-term Facilities in order to provide a better quality of life for our Elderies;
• State Quebec's post-COVID challenges in long-term care facilities;
• Assess the electromechanical considerations for a new model of long-term care facilities;
• Identify the key factors that help create a “home-like” environment in long-term care facilities.