Written by I had the pleasure of participating in a “Healthy Communities Design Workshop” in the Gulfton neighborhood of Houston a couple of weeks ago. Hosted by the City of Houston, Health and Human Services department and the Asakura Robinson Company, it’s part of a multi-neighborhood project to increase awareness and get community input on “Health and the Built Environment”.
This is a key step toward transforming Heath Care, reducing costs and improving Population Health. We need to broaden our view of healthcare design and look ‘upstream’ in the continuum of health, to find opportunities for innovation in Healthy Communities Design, Health & Wellness, as well as access to Primary Care in our neighborhoods. There is potentially greater value for our healthcare dollars when spent earlier, to keep ourselves healthy and out of the hospital!
We’ve made great progress in design of “The Hospital ” over the past two decades. But receiving excellent care in a Hospital, with state of the art diagnostics, technology and highly skilled medical staff in a therapeutic environment, is only one part of a continuum of true Health Care.