Health Advocacy Through Design

As healthcare design specialists, we strive to create environments where the best treatment can be given and received.

Evidence Based Design Research has proven that natural, clean, well lit environments help heal the sick, calm the friends and families of patients and help caregivers perform their best.

Certain design techniques, such as art may be implemented into designs to improve patient outcomes in healthcare environments.

Below is a article highlight that was first published by NBC News.  It sheds light on the healing power of art in hospitals.

To see the whole article click here.

The Healing Power of Art: Can Hospital Collections Help?

BY JACOBA URIST

Most of us agree that hospitals are inherently stressful and it’s pretty bleak to stare at a blank wall or wait for a doctor in a cramped, dark room. Sick or not, we’d prefer a sunny view or a Monet watercolor. Yet in an era of escalating healthcare costs, it’s important to justify spending on aesthetics and design.

Can an attractive drawing or photograph reduce pain or anxiety? Do patients with art in their environment heal faster?

More and more hospitals think so. And they’re putting big money behind it, transforming what were once cold, sterile spaces into mini-museums and contemporary art destinations, complete with audio guides and video installations. Some examples used in the article are below. To see the whole article, click here.

1)

Catherine Opie, a native of Sandusky, Ohio, captured the inherent beauty of Lake Erie throughout the four seasons in this suite of 22 photographs entitled “Somewhere in the Middle” installed at Hillcrest Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic community hospital. The results are dramatic skies and blue waters of a summer evening and the more solemn overcast skies and icy waters of a winter day. This installation has become a source of meditation and contemplation for patients and a place that visitors and staff seek out.

2)

Jennifer Nocon’s hand-cut wool felt sculpture “Dissolving the Hardness of Ego” speaks to the diversity of Cleveland Clinic’s art collection, which includes photographs, prints, works on paper, sculpture and painting. Curators seek out artists working with innovative materials for the collection, and visitors are drawn to the tactile nature of this work in particular.

3)

Margo Sawyer’s piece title “Synchronicity of Color” is installed in the outpatient building at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis. The corridor installation of aluminum boxes uses chameleon paint used on IndyCar race cars that shifts in color depending upon perspective.

Read more here.

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Article Source:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/healing-power-art-can-hospital-collections-help-n208966