Planetree President Susan Frampton began her mission roughly 40 years ago after her own negative experience in a hospital. The goal of Planetree is to, "change the health care system to be more patient- and family-centered". The non-profit organization works with healthcare organizations to educate them on how to design spaces that are patient centered healing environments. The feel that western medicine focuses solely on the physical body and leave out the environmental, spiritual, and emotional aspects. Planetree has laid out their 10 core components to supplement traditional medicine:
Human Interaction
Family, Friends and Social Support
Access to Information
Healing Environments
Food and Nutrition
Arts and Entertainment
Spirituality
Human Touch
Complementary Therapies
Healthy Communities
NPR interviewed Rodger Baker, CEO of Fauquier Hospital in Virginia. He made the decision to renovate the hospital to become Planetree certified in 2007. Baker felt that the way hospitals functioned for patients was wrong. ""We put patients in rooms with gowns that don't have backs on them; we strip them of their dignity; we don't explain things to them. And that's really not what they want" Baker said. He also admits that there was a business aspect to the decision. He felt that making the 97 bed facility into a more patient-centered hospital would help them stand out amongst the huge hospitals that surround them. The updated Fauquier Hospital has all private patient rooms with food cooked and delivered by order. There is even the option to get food from a local organic garden. Walls are decorated with local art work. Massage therapy is provided for the patients. The hospital has really taken the combination of spa and healthcare, which we saw at Masonic Hospital Advance Care, to a much greater level. The benefits are clear, Planetree President Susan Frampton stated that "they found that the length of stay was actually shorter" in the Planetree hospitals, she says. "People healed quicker, they were discharged more quickly, and so the cost of care came down. So [it was] interesting to counter that misbelief that care has to be more expensive if it's done in a patient-centered context, or in a place that's more pleasant to be in." The amenities are fantastic, but the real core behind what Planetree is doing is that patients and their family are more involved in the treatment. They have better communication with physicians and nurses, and through a greater understanding of their care they are able to take a more active role in their treatment.
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