Brian Henks found his ardour for healthcare via medical planning. Whereas pursuing a Grasp of Structure diploma on the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he devoted his extracurricular time to pursuing unbiased research, further lessons, and analysis on architectural tendencies in healthcare to know the business from the bottom up. After graduating in 2016, he joined Hoefer Welker the place he spent 5 years of shut mentorship working alongside Hoefer Welker’s lead medical planner earlier than absorbing the tasks of the function in 2020.
Since then, he’s taken up the cost of medical planning for among the agency’s most impactful healthcare initiatives, together with an inpatient and outpatient facility for Eglin Air Power Base in Okaloosa County, Fla.; the Sage Memorial Hospital, a vital entry care facility for Navajo reservation residents in Ganado, Ariz.; and an emergency division at St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island, Neb., the place he’s tasked with conserving the hospital’s operations operating whereas bettering general movement. He kicked off 2022 moving into the function of medical planner for the AdventHealth Most cancers Heart in Merriam, Kan., a 70,000-square-foot, three-story facility with numerous departments of look after most cancers sufferers.
Geared up with an evidence-based design accreditation and certification, Henks is also deeply concerned within the AIA Academy of Structure for Well being, Code and Requirements Committee, a job the place he delivers regulatory and compliance information to different professionals. Moreover, he’s participated in a number of knowledge-serving occasions about well being codes and security in medical planning, via which he has grow to be not solely a pacesetter throughout the agency however the business as a complete.
His certification and information of constructing well being codes, permits, and licensure assist be certain that a design meets and enhances the protection requirements in place. As said in his nomination, “With a real ardour for understanding the medical subject, Henks brings an inquisitive mindset to each undertaking he leads.”
Path to healthcare design: I’ve been blessed to have a collection of nice mentors who launched me to the business. They inspired me to assume deeply about how design can contribute to optimistic experiences and affected person outcomes in healthcare. What I really like most about designing healthcare amenities is the sensation of creating a optimistic influence within the communities we serve.
Describe your design strategy: Energetic listening refined into imaginative and prescient, translated right into a considerate, collaborative resolution.
In your desk now: Presently, I’ve a number of initiatives with CommonSpirit/CHI, together with the Household Well being Heart in Omaha, Neb., which is in design growth; the Trinity Neighborhood Hospital in St. Clairsville, Ohio; and the St. Francis Emergency Division renovation in Grand Island, Neb., which is below building. Extra shopper work consists of quite a lot of initiatives in building, together with Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, Ariz.; the Lakemary Heart Psychiatric Residential Therapy Facility in Paola, Kan.; and the AdventHealth Most cancers Heart in Merriam, Kan. Lastly, I’m in conceptual design on two major care clinics in Kansas for Intermountain Well being.
Most rewarding undertaking thus far: Figuring out a most rewarding undertaking is type of like being requested to decide on your favourite baby. Nonetheless, like so many others, my household has been shaken by most cancers, so the AdventHealth Most cancers Heart in in Merriam, Kan., holds particular which means to me. Throughout the design course of, I had the distinction to take a seat with dozens of specialised caregivers representing a variety of oncological companies and take heed to their tales, wants, hopes, and pains. The chance to serve and help their life-giving work has been an ideal privilege.
What success means to you: As a planner, I are likely to favor operate over kind, so I outline success most frequently inside my initiatives as creating areas that successfully help the work and therapeutic of the occupants. I consider the ability ought to operate as a member of the care crew slightly than an impediment the care crew should overcome. Moreover, it’s necessary to work with the shopper and the undertaking crew to outline success for the undertaking from a number of views.
Business problem in your radar: I count on that the rising pattern away from hospital-based care towards doctor teams, ambulatory surgical procedure facilities, digital care, and so forth., will symbolize a big problem for the constructing design and building neighborhood in coming years. Constructing codes and statutes proceed to additional divide healthcare settings. Our inpatient and outpatient code panorama for healthcare initiatives has grow to be more and more regulated and restrictive lately. We should work intently with our shoppers and licensing authorities to outline level-of-care and life-safety expectations early within the design course of when a undertaking might take away service strains from their conventional settings.
Should-have ability for healthcare designers in the present day: Empathy. In contrast to many designed environments, healthcare areas are typically encountered by folks throughout probably the most tough instances of their lives. Be it ache, emotional turmoil, life-changing or life-threatening sickness, or, within the case of caregivers, aggravating work environments. We who concentrate on healthcare amenities should empathize with these life experiences as we progress the design.
New pandemic-inspired work behavior: As a medical planner, I’ve needed to adapt my strategies of speaking design discussions to digital settings. Significantly with conferences the place some are in-person and a few digital, markups have to be accomplished on display screen to make sure all can comply with the dialog. To that finish, I’ve grow to be intimately aware of the out there instruments and shortcuts of Bluebeam that permit fast info gathering and diagramming of design choices. Whereas PowerPoint or different software program might seem extra presentable, I’ve discovered that shoppers and consumer teams have extra interactive collaboration once they can see the dialog being translated into diagrams and plans in entrance of them.
Anne DiNardo is govt editor of Healthcare Design. She will be reached at anne.dinardo@emeraldx.com.