Healthcare Design - October 2018 - 7

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Hank Adams

FINDING JOY

Even hospital stays can be filled with happiness,
and a personalized experience will help achieve it
By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Wayne Barger
Carolyn BaRoss
Jody Barry

PERKINS+WILL

ADVENTIST CARE CENTERS

Jeffrey Brand
Sam Burnette

HDR

SMITHGROUP

PERKINS EASTMAN

EARL S WENSSON ASSOCIATES

Sheila F. Cahnman
JUMPG ARDEN CONSULTING LLC

Thomas W. Chessum

CO ARCHITECTS

James Crispino
NOT ONE to spend a lot of time on social media, I only

recently became aware of activist and YouTube star
Claire Wineland when I saw headlines reporting
her death. Wineland was born with cystic fibrosis
and advocated for families affected by terminal illness through her nonprofit foundation and frequent
speaking engagements. However, the 21-year-old
was best known for her videos that offered an honest
and even humorous view of living with illness and
grappling with death.
On Sept. 2, shortly after undergoing a double
lung transplant, Wineland died due to a massive stroke. Tributes to her life
and work flooded news feeds, including mine, and I soon found myself understanding her vast appeal as I watched footage of one of her talks. She urged the
audience not to pity sick people but to empower them, to forget the idea that if
we're sick, we can't be as happy as when we're healthy.
It was a powerful message on its own. But the timeliness of her next thought
is what really caught my attention. She shared how when she was a young girl,
she saw a photo in a magazine of an artist in a cool loft apartment and wished
it could be her-except she was stuck in a hospital room. But then she realized
she, too, could buy a few throw pillows and twinkle lights and deck it out. So
she did, and continued to do so in every hospital room she had from then on
out, garnering attention from patients, nurses, and doctors. "Everyone in the
healthcare community had been so stuck in this notion that a hospital room is
this cold, sterile, white space where we go to be sick and that's all it can be. And
we get so stuck in that that we can't see the possibility, we can't see what we
can make out of it," she said.
I was hearing these words immediately after returning from our recent
HCD Forum in Park City, Utah (more on that coming in our November issue). One of the major themes attendees explored while there was the idea of
personalization and how necessary it will be in healthcare going forward, as
improving patient experience is almost unrivaled in project priorities. Topics included concepts of humanizing healthcare spaces, just as Wineland had
done on her own, allowing changeable components like art, light, and furniture-even in standardized environments.
I think what our Forum attendees were teasing out and exploring is the
same message Wineland was advocating. Both being sick and being in a hospital room don't have to be what one might expect them to be. Patients can and
will continue to experience happiness regardless of their condition, and design solutions for the built environment that respond to what brings them joy
and comfort-as individuals-can help. 

G ENSLER

Christine Hester Devens
Mary Frazier

AECOM

EWINGCOLE

Jocelyn Lum Frederick
HC TANG RAM DESIGN

Catherine L. Gow

F RANCIS CAUFFMAN

Natalie Miovski Hagerty
THE CHILDREN'S HOS PITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Laurel Harrison

STANTEC

Suzen L. Heeley
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER

Scott Holmes
Walter Jones

BWBR

METROHEALTH SYSTEM

Julie Kent

TRINITY HEALTH

Bryan Langlands
Michael Lied
Jain Malkin

G BBN ARCHITECTS
J AIN MALKIN INC.

Mike McKay
Victoria Navarro

NBBJ

UW HEALTH

ADVOCATE AURORA HEALTH

Don Orndoff

KAISER PERMANENTE

Diane R.K. Osan
Chris Powers
Andrew Quirk

CANNONDESIGN

HCA HEALTHCARE

S KANSKA USA BUILDING

Pamela H. Redden
HKS INC.

William D. Repichowskyj
E4H ARCHITECTURE

Kim Shinn
TLC ENGINEERING FOR ARCHITECTURE

Janet H. Sisolak
UT MD ANDERS ON CANCER CENTER

Karl R. Sonnenberg
ZIMMER GU NS UL F RASCA ARCHITECTS LLP

Kurt Spiering
Steve Stokes

HGA

G RESHAM SMITH

Jeffrey C. Stouffer

HKS INC.

Paul E. Strohm
Jocelyn Stroupe

Joshua A. Theodore
Travis Tyson

HOK

CANNONDESIGN
LEO A DALY

CLEVELAND CLINIC

Roger S. Ulrich
CHALMERS UNIVERS ITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gary L. Vance

VANCE CONSULTING

OCTOBER 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - October 2018