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Wordless Wednesday, 8/28/13 – Pearl crescent butterfly

Henry Domke Pearl crescent butterfly

Pearl crescent butterfly. Photo from www.henrydomke.com

 

Drs. Ulrich and Donovan: Health Benefits of Nearby Nature

Portland Memory Garden

Portland Memory Garden, Portland, OR. Photo by Patty Cassidy

Health Benefits of Nearby Nature
Drs. Roger S. Ulrich and Geoffrey Donovan
Thursday, September 12, 2013, 7 – 9 p.m.
Portland State University’s Hoffmann Hall
1833 SW Eleventh Avenue, Portland, OR

Many evidence-based researchers, Dr. Roger S. Ulrich among them, have found that purposefully-designed gardens in healthcare settings improve health outcomes for patients. But did you know that there is a quantifiable relationship between the presence of trees and public health? In his research, Dr. Geoffrey Donovan has found that to be the case. Both Ulrich and Donovan will talk on the Health Benefits of Nearby Nature, Thursday September 12 , 2013 at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

Ulrich has found that patients who view “representations” of nature can also find relief from stress and discomfort. For example, heart surgery patients at a Swedish hospital intensive care unit experienced reduced anxiety and less need for pain medication by looking at pictures depicting trees and water.  Over the years, Ulrich’s work has received many awards and has directly impacted the design of billions of dollars of hospital construction, and improved the health outcomes and safety of patients worldwide.  The Sweden-based professor and former director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University,  developed a Theory of Evidence-Based Design; his theory has become influential as a scientifically grounded guide for creating successful healthcare facilities. Ulrich will discuss his recent work involving the effects of single- versus multi-bed patient rooms on infection transmission; the negative impacts of hospital noise on patients and nurses; and how nature, gardens, and art can lessen pain, stress, and healthcare costs.

Ulrich’s co-presenter, Dr. Donovan, is a research forester with the USDA Forest Service who has quantified a wide range of urban-tree benefits. These have ranged from intuitive benefits— for example, reduced summertime cooling costs—to less intuitive benefits such as crime reduction. His recent findings on the relationship between trees and public health, for instance, show that mothers with trees near their homes are less likely to have underweight babies. He has also shown a connection between trees destroyed by invasive pests and a higher human death rate from  cardiovascular and lower-respiratory disease.

Register online for Health Benefits of Nearby Nature.

EBD Boot Camp – Boot Camp for Evidence-Based Design

EBD Boot Camp

It’s back to school! On September 12-14, the Texas A&M Center for Health Systems and Design will hold a two-day work session on evidence-based design. EBD Boot Camp is a practical interactive work session that will give design professionals, developers, researchers, and others the practical experience of applying relevant evidence in their work.

Led by Texas A&M experts, the September Boot Camp is the first of four work sessions sponsored by the Center for Health Systems and Design. Another fall EBD Boot Camp session takes place October 24-26; two more sessions will follow in 2014, February 6-8 and March 20-22. The organizers describe the hands-on workshop in this way:

This is not a superficial conference presentation about theory. It is a unique, no-nonsense, limited attendance and hands-on work session using relevant evidence to develop the real project on your desk.

Want to learn how to incorporate evidence-based design into your work?  Bring a current project and learn how to use and integrate relevant evidence through a hands-on, interactive work session with expert guides.

WHERE:
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

WHEN:
September 12-14, 2013 or October 24-26, 2013

REGISTRATION:
$1700 per person, $1450 for each additional person – same firm. Limited to 8 attendees per session.

FACULTY:
D. Kirk Hamilton, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC
Mardelle Shepley, D.Arch, AIA, LEED AP, EDAC
James W. Varni, PhD
Susan D. Rodiek, PhD, NCARB, EDAC
Zofia Rybkowski, PhD,LEED AP
Xuemei Zhu, PhD
Zhipeng Lu, PhD

OPEN TO:
Architects, Landscape Architects, Engineers, Designers, Project Managers, Researchers, Technology Experts, Librarians, Developers, and Building Owners

CERTIFICATE:
Attendees who complete the EBD Boot Camp, perform the assigned work and pass the review exam will receive an Advanced Practitioner Certificate from the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University.

For more information contact Judy Pruitt at(979) 845-7009 or jpruitt@tamu.edu. To register, click here. For more information, read the EBD Boot Camp flier.

 

Nordic Adventure: Connecting Children with Nature

International Conference in Copenhagen and Malmö, September 2013

No matter the weather or the season, Nordic children can always be found playing outdoors. The upcoming conference, Nordic Adventure: Connecting Children with Nature, will feature keynote addresses and workshop presentations on the myriad opportunities for connecting children to nature  in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The conference takes place September 10-13, 2013 in Copenhagen and Malmö. The registration deadline was August 20 (sorry, we’re a little behind on our blog posts) but if you act fast, you can probably squeeze in there.

Scandinavian nations have long since worked with adventure and nature playgrounds, school gardens and green school grounds, forest and outdoor preschools, education for sustainable development, and many other nature-based initiatives for children. The English-language conference will be a mixture of plenary sessions, presentations, site visits and social experiences.

For details and information on registration, contact the planning committee: nordicadventure2013@gmail.com, and visit the conference site.

Going to the hospital and we’re…gonna get married

Les & Betty Krueger Family Healing Garden

Staff, patients, and visitors enjoy the Les & Betty Krueger Family Healing Garden.

The hospital isn’t somewhere most people plan on getting married. In fact, the idea might be hard for some to imagine. But what if really wanted to get married, and you really couldn’t leave the hospital…where would you choose for the wedding? Your room? Probably not, especially if it’s a shared room. The chapel? Maybe, but not all hospital chapels are that inspiring, and not all are non-denominational. So, how about outside in the garden? A quiet, neutral place away from the sharp corners, beeping machines, and sterile surfaces. A place with fresh air, sunlight, and greenery.

Though there have surely been more, we know of at least three weddings that have taken place in healing gardens at hospitals in the United States. In all cases, the patient was too ill to leave and was determined to say their vows, in the garden.

This quote is from one of the employees at Harrison Medical Center, which just recently opened the Les & Betty Krueger Family Healing Garden:

I was in the garden this morning when a chaplain came in with a patient’s mother.  Her son was on one of our surgery floors and was supposed to be getting married tomorrow.  His mother asked if they could get married in the garden.  They had a huge wedding planned.  We then discovered his bride to be was a nurse on one of our units.  So I talked with Catering and Security to plan.  We are having a small ceremony in the garden and reception on our front patio tomorrow.  Catering jumped right in to help with food and setting up the patio.  Security is blocking off one of our lots for parking.  I cannot think of a more therapeutic or sacred use of the garden than entering into matrimony.  Definitely one I would not expect.

Thanks to the landscape architect, Mark Epstein of Hafs Epstein, for sharing, and to Harrison Medical Center for letting us re-print the story! For some more photos of the garden, click here.

 

Children & Nature Network’s Grassroots Gathering

Outdoor Free Play

Outdoor Free Play

The Children and Nature Network is holding its annual conference, Grassroots Gathering 2013 in San Diego on September 4-6. This year’s conference features great speakers, practical tips, and opportunities to network with leaders committed to connecting children to nature.

C&NN co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Richard Louv will lead a discussion about creating the future of the children and nature movement. Feedback, ideas, and suggestions are needed on big questions such as “How do we overcome barriers to children ‘s access to nature and the outdoors? What community opportunities can we take advantage of? And what does the movement need right now versus in the future?”

The conference begins Wednesday, September 4th at 2:30 and closes at noon on Friday, September 6th. Registration includes all meals and meeting materials. To register, go to Eventbrite. For more details about presentations, varying conference rates, and accommodations, view the complete agenda.

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HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013 – Early Bird reg. ends Friday!

HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013

 

In our earlier post on HEALTHCARE DESIGN 2013, we didn’t list specific sessions because they hadn’t been published yet. So here’s an update, with sessions that may be of particular interest to our Network members. Keep in mind that many other sessions will probably cover access to nature in one way or another; these are just the ones that mentioned it specifically.

First, here’s the HCD13 blurb:

“Shaping the Future of Healthcare Facility Design”
The Healthcare Design Conference is the premier event devoted to how the design of responsibly built environments directly impact the safety, operation, clinical outcomes, and financial success of healthcare facilities now and into the future. With roughly 4000 participants at the 2012 Healthcare Design Conference, this is the industry’s best-attended conference where attendees can earn up to 24 continuing education credits, network with peers, and influence the direction of the industry as it advances into the future.

For more information and to register, visit www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/conference/healthcare-design-conference

Now the sessions:

Facility tour of Nemours Childrens Hospital

TAMU First Look Colloqium—Therapeutic Landscapes: Tools for Successful Design and Outcomes
Naomi Sachs,  Founding Director, Therapeutic Landscapes Network; Mardelle McCuskey Shepley, DArch, FAIA, FACHA, EDAC, LEED AP, The Skaggs – Sprague Endowed Chair in Health Facilities Design, Director, Center for Health Systems & Design, Texas A&M University.
Access to nature in the healthcare environment is increasingly accepted by designers, healthcare administrators, staff, and the community as an important element in the environment of care. As demand grows, designers need solid research, specific guidelines, and good existing examples to inform their work. Guidelines with clearly defined metrics can be translated into an evaluative tool for “apples to apples” comparisons. All of these strategies help stakeholders to understand the role and importance of access to nature. This understanding and knowledge ensures that spaces—and elements within those spaces—provide the best possible outcomes for patients, visitors, staff.

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Vincent van Gogh’s restorative landscapes

Vincent Van Gogh's irises

From van Gogh’s ‘Iris’ series, painted at the Asylum of Saint Paul de Mausole in Saint-Rémy, France, 1889.

Vincent van Gogh painted his famous “Iris” series at the Asylum of Saint Paul de Mausole in Saint-Rémy, France, in 1889. Allowed to roam the asylum ’s grounds, van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother, Theo, “When I send you the four canvases of the garden. . .you ’ll see that considering that life happens above all in the garden, it isn ’t so sad.” In a letter to his mother and sister he wrote, “But precisely for one ’s health, as you say—it ’s very necessary to work in the garden and to see the flowers growing.”

 

From Van Gogh, Vincent. 2009. Vincent van Gogh–The Letters: The Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition. Edited by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten, Nienke Bakker of the Van Gogh Museum in association with the Huygens Institute. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. Letters 776 and 889 retrieved from http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters.html on May 8, 2013.

 

Avian delights

A young Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

A young Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

I received this email from a TLN member this morning, thought you might enjoy:

Half a dozen baby blue tits (they don’t have their crests yet)
have found my feeders and are having quite a time.  One keeps
slipping off the perch and hanging upside down by one foot.
Another pecked at the plastic above the feeding hole to get to the seeds
but finally caught on.  I’m trying to read my work for today but
can’t stop giggling.

For more information on blue tits, see the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) website: http://www.rspb.org.uk. The image is from pixdaus.com.

 

Wordless Wednesday, July 3, 2013 – Prickly poppy

Prickly poppy (Argemone)

Prickly poppy (Argemone), Marfa, TX – Photo by Naomi Sachs