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By focusing on improving health, rather than health- care, improvements to healthcare, as well as additional elements in the whole system also benefi t from this systemic improvement. Elements include organizational performance, public health indices, individual vitality and overall community well-being.
LEADING PRACTITIONERS
In one application of this method, James Lesslie in Georgia, developed a walking program that so many company employees participated in, the improved com- posite employee wellness profi le enabled the company to reduce its annual health insurance premiums. Simon Henderson in the UK has applied this method to devel- oping the Macmillan Environmental Quality Mark — a rating and benchmarking process raising the bar for improving the quality of the caring experience within the UK's cancer care provider organizations. Bruce Raber in Canada, of Stantec, has designed a hospital unit to respond to the client request that it be a place that staff would want to come to on their day off. Although the project is being built, the staff appears to be enthusiastic while seeing the design concepts takes built form. Dr. Mark Rowe in Ireland has devel- oped the Waterford Health Park and determined that patient medical compliance has improved because of
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the environment enabling patient anxiety to be reduced. Tama Duffy Day, of Perkins + Will, in Washington, D.C. has designed the Arlington Free Clinic that has seen its number of healthcare provider volunteer hours increase as a result of the new facility design.
As the scope of the global healthcare industry has evolved over the decades, the pressure of fi nancial viability has strained both the quality of service and the consistency of providing authentic expressions of car- ing. Now, through the breakthrough this new evolution of designing healthcare environments is creating, it is within our grasp to expect large-scale improvements across every aspect of healthcare delivery.
Editor's Note: The annual Generative Space Award is presented at the Healthcare Facilities Symposium and Expo. For details, visit www.aplacetofl ourish.net.
Dr. Wayne Ruga, FAIA, FIIDA, Hon. FASID, is an international healthcare architect. For 40 years he has engaged in a quest to improve lives through innovative design. He can be reached at wruga@post.harvard.edu.
Dr. Susan Kirkcaldy is a special advisor to The CARITAS Proj- ect. She is the director of Kirkcaldy Consulting Limited in the UK and a senior research fellow at Leeds University. She can be reached at susan.kirkcaldy@kirkcaldyconsulting.com.
March/April 2012 | Medical Construction & Design 35
From left: Waterford Health Park's atrium area and coffee shop.
Built entirely from donations, Arlington Free Clinic was created to refl ect the client's goals of respect, dignity and inspiration.
Waterford Health Park's healing garden is open to the public.
RENDERINGS: PERKINS+WILL; FREE-CLINIC: KEN HAYDEN PHOTOGRAPHY
