VANCOUVER, BC, Monday, April 22, 2024: In a groundbreaking first for the nature prescription movement, PaRx and Evo Car Share are teaming up to make it easier for people in Greater Vancouver and Victoria to get closer to nature.

Beginning this Earth Day, patients with a PaRx prescription can register for a free Evo membership and receive 100 minutes of free drive time. This is the first time a collaboration between a nature prescription program and major mobility organization has ever occurred within Canada or internationally.

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As the weather warms up and more people think about heading outside, this partnership is arriving at the right time. A survey last spring of over 2000 Canadians by Protect Our Winters found 47% of them reporting that alack of transportation deterred them from participating in outdoor activities.

“On Earth Day today, I’m so excited we’re taking this big step together towards better nature access. Not only will this improve my patients’ health, but it will also help inspire them to protect and conserve the nature they get to experience,” offers Dr. Melissa Lem, Director of PaRx.

Though the core concept of nature prescribing involves incorporating outdoor time into your everyday routine, not every patient has ready access to the high-quality green and blue spaces that research tells us can be healthier and more restorative for us.

Evo Car Share, with its fleet of hybrid and electric vehicles equipped with ski and bike racks, offers a convenient and climate-friendly way to get into the great outdoors. Users pay an all-inclusive per minute, hourly or daily rate which covers unlimited mileage, insurance, gas and parking. Available in seven cities across BC, Evos can be taken far afield as long as they are returned to their home zone. 

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“Without a car, getting into your favourite nature spots within the city can be really difficult,” says Evo Car Share’s Director, Amitis Khorsandi. “We’re also seeing more people using Evo to get out of the city - they explore, have adventures on their own or with a crew. They head to the mountains and trails – they climb mountains, hike, bike, swim, forest bathe. Teaming up with PaRx to get more people out into nature to support their wellbeing is an important initiative and we’re happy to be part of it.” 

PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program, has been connecting people to nature since 2020. A vast body of scientific research shows that regular doses of nature improve a wide range of health conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease, lung disease, depression and anxiety. In children, outdoor time can improve immune function, eyesight, school performance and reduce symptoms of ADHD.

More than 13,000 health professional prescribers in Canada have written thousands of prescriptions for patients to visit nature to improve their health, with an impressive 15% of all physicians in BC now enrolled in PaRx. 

Nature is becoming the fourth pillar of health, just as important for staying healthy as diet, exercise and good sleep. By providing better access to nature through innovative collaborations with transportation organizations like Evo Car Share, PaRx is revolutionizing how we think about and access good health and well-being.

The BC Parks Foundation invites other partners, governments and funders to engage and collaborate with PaRx as it continues its mission to connect people to nature for their health.

About the BC Parks Foundation and PaRx

As the official charitable partner of BC Parks, the BC Parks Foundation is leading an expedition to create the best park system in the world by working with you to protect, enhance and sustain our parks, while inspiring and connecting people to them.

Our national evidence-based nature prescription program, PaRx, has become a global leader at the intersection of nature and health. PaRx serves as a key advisor on international research projects and has been highlighted by the World Health Organization as an effective way to inspire protection and restoration of nature for our health. Its collaborations with nature-forward organizations like Parks Canada, the Toronto Zoo and the Canadian Museum of Nature work to reduce barriers to nature access across Canada. PaRx has also been endorsed by the Canadian Medical Association, marking a historic milestone as the first national physicians’ association in the world to incorporate nature prescriptions into official policy.

To learn more about PaRx, visit www.parkprescriptions.ca.

About Evo Car Share

One of the largest car sharing services in North America, Evo Car Share, created by BCAA, offers drop off and pick up anywhere in the Home Zone for those who don’t own a vehicle or are looking for mobility options. Eco friendly, Evos are hybrids with a few electric cars in the fleet. Evo has more than 2,300 vehicles in its fleet, and hundreds of thousands of members taking thousands of trips a day. Evo has home zones in Vancouver, Victoria, and Burnaby as well as a round-trip drop off and pick up in the same location service in Surrey B.C.

For more information visit Evo.ca.

Media contacts:

BC Parks Foundation

Randene Neill
Communications
randene.neill@bcparksfoundation.ca
604-970-1652

Evo Car Share

Sara Holland
Senior Manager, Communications, BCAA & Evo Car Share
sara.holland@bcaa.com
778-874-4046