Healthy Communities

In the first week of class, we were introduced to some important terminology used in healthcare design. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

We also looked at the factors that determine health – genetics, and healthcare which account for 20% each whereas the social, environmental and behavioral factors which account for 60% of the same. In the past few years, the focus has been drawn the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), which has been defined by the WHO as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” and “the fundamental drivers of these conditions “. The Social Determinants of Health include economic stability, education, social and community context, health and healthcare, and neighborhood and the built environment. A lot of studies have shown that the socioeconomic factors have a direct relationship to the health outcomes. There are also studies that predict your life expectancy based on your zip code.

Douglas King addressed many of these issues as he spoke to us about “Population Health Management”, its goals, outcomes and some strategies that can be used to achieve the same. Douglas King is the principal architect, technical director and leader for the Healthcare division at Stantec. He has worked on several complex healthcare projects including some federal projects and has a special interest in high-rise healthcare design.

Population Health Management can be understood as an approach to healthcare “that aims to prevent and cure disease by keeping people healthy” (Kenneth Kizer, 2016). Population Health Management strategies include improving the socioeconomic factors such as housing, food, education, transportation, and employment to improve the health of a community and an individual.

Following similar lines, HDR has proposed the “Focal Point Community Campus”, which is based on the concept of developing a self-sustaining health community campus in south-west Chicago.