The launch of the iPhone 5S has people talking about all things Apple again. One of the articles that popped up in my Twitter feed titled, “Timeless Branding Lessons From A Young Steve Jobs,” by Drake Baer of Fast Company, caught my attention since I’m hearing a lot of healthcare organizations talk about branding (or rebranding) these days.
With a goal to bring care closer to the community and expand its network, Mercy Health opened the Rookwood Medical Center adjacent to a major freeway in a central area of Cincinnati in July 2013. The highly visible location, along with a bold façade and triangular site, help reinforce the organization’s new brand identity and vision to the community.
Much has been written about the health benefits of breastfeeding to infants—and mothers—but there’s also a larger benefit to society. The Office of Women’s Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reports that if 90 percent of families breastfed exclusively for six months, nearly 1,000 deaths among infants could be prevented.
In this series, Healthcare Design magazine asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
Bill Kline is an architect and vice president with SmithGroupJJR’s Washington D.C. office. He currently serves as a health practice leader. Here, he shares his thoughts on BIM, applying the new wellness model to building design, and building more energy and water efficient facilities.
1. The right team
Thomas Goetz has an issue with whiteboards. Specifically, how such a large piece of equipment in a hospital ward—and one that’s chock full of important information—seems to be almost an afterthought.
“No one seems to have thought of that as a piece of design and yet it’s the biggest thing on any one wall or surface,” he says.
Singapore is called the Garden City for its abundance of trees and gardens, a feature that’s included in the design of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital (MNH). The hospital’s commitment to green is further demonstrated through a number of sustainable design elements that help minimize waste and increase savings.
Completion Date: April 2012
Owner: Parkway Pantai Ltd
Architecture and interior design: HOK
Associate architect: CIAP Architects Pte Ltd
Contracting: Langdon and Seah (quantity surveyor)
Structural engineer: T.Y. Lin International Pte Ltd
Mechanical engineer: Parsons Brinckerhoff Pte Ltd
Civil engineer: T.Y. Lin International Pte Ltd
Curtain wall consultant: Arup Singapore Pte Ltd
In an area of Singapore that already includes a destination medical center with a public hospital and medical office building nearby, competition among private medical providers to have a presence there is high. Parkway Pantai Ltd. (Singapore), one of Asia’s largest private healthcare providers, was one of six operators bidding on a single piece of land.
All it took for me was one night in the hospital with my daughter, going from sleeping upright in a bedside rocker to a hard vinyl couch that was at least six inches too short, to understand the importance of comfort for both patients and caregivers.
In this series, Healthcare Design magazine asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
Here, Gary Vance, national director of healthcare at BSA LifeStructures (Indianapolis), shares his thoughts on current trends in the healthcare industry and how they relate to the planning and design of future facilities.
1. Strategic plans: “They’re not what they use to be”
A visit to a doctor’s office or hospital is stressful enough without the worry of “How long is this going to take?” Recently, Angie’s List, a member review and rating service, found that of 1,008 members who responded to an online poll, 65 percent estimate they’ve waited an hour or more to see a healthcare provider.
In 1813, Samuel Tuke wrote the following in a description of York Retreat, an institution for insane people in York, England, that was founded by his grandfather William Tuke: “Many errors in the construction, as well as in the management, of asylums for the insane appear to arise from excessive attention to safety. … In the construction of such places, cure and comfort ought to be as much considered as security.”
