Reflecting on a Decade
The November 2011 issue of HEALTHCARE DESIGN marks the 10th anniversary of the magazine’s first publication. The growth of the title—starting as a once-yearly publication and eventually growing to a whole media brand that encompasses a monthly publication, a major conference, website, and more—has been remarkable, especially in an era when the print medium has been rapidly eclipsed by electronic forms.
Self-congratulating aside, however, looking back on our publication history, several things stick out in my mind as sources of pride. First, the loyalty and service of our Editorial Advisory Board, many of whom have been with the book since Day One. These key players in the healthcare design industry rolled the dice with us—and our publication partners at The Center for Health Design—back in 2001 and have stuck with us through the years, providing guidance and expertise when called upon. Consider this a formal thanks to you all.
Second, and perhaps most significantly, is the role that our magazine has played over the last 10 years in the development of the healthcare design community—a community that largely didn’t exist when we launched. At that point, hospitals for the most part still resembled nothing more than large shoeboxes or college dormitories—hardly the “healing environments” we’ve come to know today.
Flipping through the archives, you can really see these trends develop, as ideas that once seemed to be outside the box are now commonplace features that one can hardly imagine healthcare facilities not including—things like access to natural light and single patient rooms were far from being the status quo a decade ago.
As Debra J. Levin, EDAC, President and CEO of The Center for Health Design, put it in our recent 10th anniversary supplement, “The magazine has really accelerated the spread of knowledge and ideas in a way that would not have happened otherwise.” While the HEALTHCARE DESIGN brand certainly can’t be credited with coming up with any of the ideas alluded to above, the fact that it has provided an outlet for these things to be discussed and debated has been invaluable for the healthcare design community. This is a specialized industry, and it takes a special sort of professional to thrive in it. We are proud to enter our second decade of providing these professionals with the kind of information that informs industry progress, and we hope to continue doing so for many decades to come.
Finally, thanks to all of you, our loyal readers, for coming along on the ride with us. The best, as they say, is yet to come. HCD