Healthcare Interior Design 2.0

Alanna M. Carter, LEED AP Principal, Practice Group Lead at HGA is Cheryl's guest today on the podcast. Cheryl asks Alanna the question, "How have you and your team responded to the pandemic and what's happening now within your firm?" Alanna took a breath and shared, "It's interesting as leaders. I don't think any of us could have realized how we were going to have to navigate through that [pandem...

In Part 1 of today's episode, Cheryl Janis speaks with Joshua Theodore, Vice President and Global Health Practice Leader at Leo A. Daly. During the first months of the pandemic, what other facilities, aside from hospitals, were used as surge spaces? Joshua begins, "The US Army of Corps Engineers designated 17 alternate care facilities for surge capacity, and one of those was the Javits Center in N...

In part 2 of Cheryl's interview with Joshua Theodore, Vice President and Global Health Practice Leader at Leo A. Daly, Cheryl asks Joshua about Work Well ---a new project, and new technology coming out of Leo A. Daly and their industry partners, to help fight COVID-19. Joshua shares, "Work Well started out as a 2 x 4 foot stick-built wood approach to scanning people as they come onboard. People pa...

Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, MRAIC, Co-Founder & Vice-Chair of Perkins Eastman is Cheryl's guest today on the podcast. Today, women lead the majority of Perkins-Eastman offices and studios. However, it wasn't always that way. When Mary-Jean Eastman entered architecture school in 1966, fewer than 10 percent of her classmates were women. What was that time like for Mary-Jean and how have women in archit...

In Part 2 of Cheryl's interview with Mary-Jean Eastman, Co-Founder & Vice-Chair of Perkins Eastman, Cheryl asks Mary-Jean to describe her firm's work with Memorial Sloan Kettering. "Memorial Sloan Kettering is one of the oldest and largest cancer centers in the world," Mary-Jean begins. "When we started working with them, the mandate was to take an institution that was very much focused on researc...

On Part 1 of today's episode, Cheryl speaks with Lesa Lorusso,  PhD, MBA, Allied AIA, ASID, RID, NCIDQ, and Healthcare Director of Research and Innovation at Gresham Smith, on the firm's new patent-pending empathic design technology. "The Empathic Design Tool" measures emotional responses of people reacting to the built environment. Lesa shares, "We have an innovation incubator within Gresham Smit...

In the second half of Cheryl's conversation today with Lesa Lorusso, PhD, MBA, Allied AIA, ASID, RID, NCIDQ, and Healthcare Director of Research & Innovation at Gresham Smith, they discuss Lesa's research project, "Investigating the Impact of Multisensory Environments on Behavior for Veterans with Dementia." Lesa shares, "That research project was a labor of the heart. I was fortunate at the Unive...

Jennifer Aliber, Principal at Shepley Bulfinch, a national architecture firm known to challenge convention, pioneer visionary design & collaborate with clients is our guest today on the podcast. In part one of today's episode, Jennifer shares her thoughts on how hospitals and healthcare systems can be better prepared for future pandemic outbreaks in the United States. Jennifer shares, "I'm pretty...

In part 2 of Cheryl's conversation with Jennifer Aliber, Principal at Shepley Bulfinch, Cheryl asks Jennifer, "What specific design changes will we see in the hospital and healthcare setting?" Jennifer begins to answer this question with, "I like to think about anything I don't like as a patient because I know if I hate it, other people will hate it. This gives us an opportunity to rethink things...

Diana Spellman, President of Spellman Brady & Company, an award winning interior planning firm specializing in timeless meaningful environments in healthcare, senior living and higher education is our guest today on the podcast. In part one of today's episode, Diana and Cheryl discuss Spellman & Brady's initial response to the pandemic. Diana shares, "We immediately created a set of standing weekl...

In part 2 of Cheryl's interview with Diana Spellman, President of Spellman Brady & Company, their conversation moves to the firm's design philosophy and how materials and surfaces play a key role in creating S&B's signature, purposeful and deeply meaningful environments. Diana shares, "Twenty-eight years ago, our philosophy was, 'How do we create adjunct staff that bridge the gaps between the owne...

Mary Frazier, AIA, LEED AP, Green Belt and Principal at Ewing Cole is our guest today on the podcast. Mary shares the need for hospital agility and the ability to quickly retool in the face of unforeseen events. She shares, "Initially, we were focused on how quickly we could expand capacity for our hospital partners within institutions themselves by repurposing large spaces such as lobbies or reco...

In part 2 of Cheryl's interview today with Mary Frazier, AIA, LEED AP, Green Belt and Principal at Ewing Cole, Mary shares new technology that is greatly assisting in the battle against COVID-19 and Hospital Acquired Infections. She shares, "There are things we are seeing that we think have a lot of promise like Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation which we have put into air handlers before and cont...

Rachel Gutter, President of the International WELL Building Institute, on how the IWBI is leading the global movement to transform our buildings, communities and organizations in ways that help people thrive. Rachel shares, "WELL is a certification that we offer for buildings, communities, and now through our Portfolio program for organizations. It is focused on all of the different ways those pla...

In part 2 of Cheryl's interview today with Rachel Gutter, President of the IWBI, they discuss the IWBI's new Task Force---with more than 250 members---whose goal is to help reduce the health burden of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections in the built environment. Rachel shares, "There was an unprecedented opportunity and a moral obligation in this crisis and we stood up the Task Force. I am t...

Part 1, Linda Lybert, Founder and Executive Director of the Healthcare Surfaces Institute shares what healthcare design professionals most need to know about pathogens post-COVID-19. "We're in the middle of a pandemic and the education on this is very real," Linda shares. The fact is we really have to clean our surfaces in the hospital setting in a certain way and on an ongoing basis. This is crit...

In Part 2 of Cheryl's fascinating conversation today with Linda Lybert--Founder and Executive Director of the Healthcare Surfaces Institute --they discuss the absence of validation requirements for surfaces that are used in the healthcare and hospital environment. Linda shares, "If you don't have surfaces that are in the healthcare setting that can be effectively cleaned and disinfected, the way t...

Paul Scialla, Founder and CEO at Delos is our guest today on the podcast. By placing health and wellness at the center of design, construction, technology and programming decisions, Delos is transforming our indoor environments into spaces that actively contribute to human health and well-being. Paul shares how the current crisis is moving beyond political boundaries. "At the end of the day," Paul...

Sara Marberry, EDAC, Healthcare Design Expert, Marketing Consultant, and writer on the short-and long-term effects of the current crisis on the healthcare design industry. Sara shares, "A halt on projects in the short term is not necessarily a bad thing. I think this will bring more renovation projects to make them safer to attract new residents in senior care facilities, for example." This and ho...

In part of today's episode Cheryl speaks with Rebecca Donner, IIDA, NCIDQ, Founder and Principal of Inner Design Studio. They discuss the rise of a new and unique challenge in the design community, stemming from HGTV's popular shows like Fixer Uppers. As Rebecca shares, "The University's drop-out rates have increased in the design community in the United States at an alarming rate. Interior design...

In the second half of Cheryl's conversation with Rebecca Donner, they discuss The Women in Healthcare Initiative which began in Washington DC about two years ago, to elevate the professional development of women in healthcare -- both the providers and the businesses that support the providers. "The networking and the mentorship, and simply the acceleration of careers provided by the membership has...

Victoria Navarro, MBA, HCM and Regional Director in the Planning, Design and Construction Department at Advocate Aurora Health on failure and setbacks. " A lot of things I've learned from failures or setbacks has really shaped my thinking to persevere and continue to find ways to problem solve," Victoria shares . "I love the saying, 'In order to blaze a trail, you mustn't be afraid to fail.'"  Thi...

Monika Smith, Design Director at Apex Design Build, on what no one is talking about in a healthcare project that they should be talking about. Monika shares, " When many of the doctors we serve in private practice decide to build their own practices, they often don't ask themselves the question, 'How will my practice stand out in the marketplace?'"  That and more on what's right with healthcare de...

Lisa M. Cini, Tech-Thought Leader, Best-selling author, National Designer for Senior Living and Aging in Place Environments, and Principal at Mosaic Design Studio on her purchase of the storied Columbus, Ohio Woodland Manor Mansion . Lisa (and her team) are in the process of transforming the mansion into a fully functional living experience to highlight the newest innovations in technology for sen...

Melinda P. Avila-Torio, NCIDQ, CHID, RID, CASP, LEED AP, and Senior Associate and Project Manager at THW Design on the need for private family rooms at senior living facilities. When a male executive at an assisted living facility was quietly in conversation with a resident, the resident suddenly and peacefully died. In order not to not alarm the other residents, the executive continued to softly...