We were fortunate enough to receive a very informative lecture on ‘Healthy Living Centers’ by Doug King. Doug King is a leader within the Healthcare industry and continues to study all the factors which pay a role in Health Care Design. In this lecture we were encouraged to think further than the hospital itself. What other factors play a role in our health and day to day lives? We are asked to think about the determinants of Death.At my age of 24 I don’t think much of when I or really anyone around me is going to just pass ways based off of “determinants”. When thinking of one’s own health, we think that if we get sick, then there will be help and it should get fixed, right? Well there are determining factors to this. It all comes down to two factors, education and your zip-code.
Only two factors. It’s as simple as that? One would argue it is much more complex than that, but when you think about it; there are more factors to one’s death or let’s just say health. Doug King has been studying these areas which factor into the health management of our population. What also got me thinking were the four goals in which healthcare is reaching for based off of King’s lecture. These four goals are as follows:
Provide better healthcare
Reduce healthcare costs
Addressing impediments in seeking healthcare
Keeping the healthcare staff happy
Although these seem to not have much to do with our role as designers and architects, it has ALL to do with how we think and create. These goals are a great way to start off our basis of design for this semester.
Image: http://www.voa.com/team/douglas-king
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