Anchor institutions, such as hospitals and universities, are rooted in communities and their success is tied to the well-being of the communities they serve. As large, place-based organizations that hold a sustained commitment to improving the social, economic, and environmental well-being of their communities. Their mission, permanence and scale make them prime facilitators and providers for wider community health and well-being. These anchor institutions possess significant physical, financial, and human assets that can be strategically deployed to address the social and environmental determinants of health including housing, employment, education, and the environment settings and ecosystems, which shape a significant proportion of health and resilience outcomes, particularly under a rapidly changing climate.
Lead by Darryl Quantz, Sustainability Lead at Fraser Health and Dr. Maya Gislason, Associate Professor, Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and involving over 10 team members from across the two organizations – the proposed research will investigate how Fraser Health regionally, as an anchor institution, embeds social and environmental sustainability principles into strategy, investment decisions and service operations to improve the social determinants of health and wellbeing, equity, and community resilience. Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks from biocultural innovation, organizational theory, and low carbon resilience, the project will use a mixed-methods case study approach. Data will be collected through document analysis, key informant interviews, and collaborative workshops with institutional and community partners. The research will analyze governance mechanisms, decision-making processes, and implementation strategies that enable or constrain systemic change toward planetary health goals and evaluate whether the anchor institution framing accelerates systemic change for health and wellbeing outcomes. Of particular interest will be indicators from existing anchor institutions/networks and how these are used to evaluate the success of anchor missions.
Relevant link: Fraser Health Sustainability and Preparedness – Planetary Health Strategy