Explore the intersection of healthcare and climate change at inaugural Butterfield event

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Do you believe that human health is linked to the environments within which we work and live? 

Are you concerned about the consequences climate change has on the health of our most vulnerable populations? 

Are you concerned with health equity and wonder why planetary health is a healthcare concern and policy priority? 

Join us to explore these and other issues at the intersection of healthcare and climate change, at the inaugural Butterfield Upstream Fund Event on April 12/13.  

The event is named after Patricia Butterfield’s seminal 2002 publication, “Upstream reflections on environmental health: an abbreviated history and framework for action.” Butterfield, PhD, RN, a former dean of the WSU College of Nursing and retired professor and associate dean of research at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, called for nursing practice to consider the social, economic, and environmental origins of health problems that manifest at the population level.  

Twenty years later, we’re celebrating Butterfield’s contributions to sustainability in health care by hosting the inaugural Upstream lecture and events on April 12 and 13.  

The event’s keynote speaker, who will also host small-group discussions with students, is Beth Schenk, Ph.D., RN, a WSU College of Nursing alumni and Executive Director of Environmental Stewardship at Providence. Her address on April 12 is entitled, “Our Global Climate Crisis – What Can and Should Healthcare Do?” The lecture will take place at 5:30 pm in the WSU Spokane Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building (PBS), at 205 E. Spokane Falls Blvd.   

That address is preceded by poster presentations and a networking event, with doors opening at 4:30 pm on April 12, also in the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Building.  

The next day, Schenk will meet with students and faculty in-person and virtually via Zoom.  

For more information and to register for the public reception and keynote address on April 12, visit: https://spokane.wsu.edu/alumniandfriends/butterfield-upstream-fund/ Those who want to view the address remotely via YouTube will be sent a link after registration.  

For Nursing PhD students, register for your small-group discussion with Dr. Schenk on “Being a visionary change agent as a PhD-prepared nurse in multiple environments” here: https://nursing.wsu.edu/our-global-climate-crisis-phd/

For Nursing MN and DNP students, and Medicine and Pharmacy students, register for your small-group discussion with Dr. Schenk on “How practice leaders can help health care become environmentally safe” here: https://nursing.wsu.edu/our-global-climate-crisis-dnp/