Aesthetics, Inc. has been an integral part of the project team, and has helped Children’s implement a vision for an Arts & Healing Urban Renewal Project with the local arts community that includes visual, presentation and performing arts organizations. Aesthetics’ art and interior design themes imbue a sense of discovery and wonder to the hospital and instill an identity in each level of the building. See more pictures on the Aesthetics website, for interior design, customer experience design, interpretive displays and wayfinding.

For more information about bringing a welcoming sense of place to your health care facility, please call 619-683-7500 or email info@aesthetics.net.

In this article by Aesthetics CEO Annette Ridenour, published in the April 2011 issue of World Health Design, a leading international resource among healthcare design journals, Annette shared what she has learned about the relationship between the arts and healing. To read the informative article and see photographs of the beautiful hospital facility, click here.

"Hospitals are—as they should be—bastions of practical, pragmatic thinking. Because virtually every major decision can have profound consequences for patient health, fiscal soundness, staff engagement, and institutional identity, those decisions are generally weighed with great care and analytical rigor.
… [H]ospitals also represent some of the highest and most idealistic human aspirations: the healing of not just the body but also of the mind and the spirit; renewal of hope; and service to others.

It is difficult for a healthcare organization’s leadership to stand in both of those modes of thinking at the same time, and generate an organizational culture that honors the full expression of the idealistic impulse while remaining grounded in responsible operational practicalities.

When it successfully engages both of those aspects of its responsibilities, it creates what I call a “culture of possibility,” because it entertains breakthrough thinking about possibilities while harnessing that thinking to the practical constraints of what is actually possible. Such a culture carries an organization beyond the limitations of existing models and industry benchmarks and shifts the sense of what’s possible, creating new models and new benchmarks, and setting new standards for everyone within its industry.

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has created such a culture, and its new physical environment, which incorporates the arts, is a result of that culture while simultaneously being an expression of it. The renovations demonstrate a major commitment to using the arts as an active participant in healing, and in communicating vital messages of empowerment, opportunity, generosity, and delight.

Arts, healing, and urban renewal
You don’t have to look far to see the combination of vision and pragmatism in the hospital’s recent makeover of its Minneapolis campus—you can start with the full title of the arts component: the Arts & Healing and Urban Renewal Project. Dr. Alan Goldbloom, the hospital’s president and CEO, explains, “Our healing mission includes not only patients and their families, but our community, too, and so we decided to launch an urban renewal effort unlike any other in the country through a unique collaboration with the local arts community.”

Read the full article here.

Speaking Engagements

2012

May 3
Society for the Arts in Healthcare  2012 Annual Conference:
Arts & Health: A Global View
Hosted by Children’s Hospital of Michigan
May 2–5, 2012, Detroit, MI
at the Westin Book Cadillac
Aesthetics CEO Annette Ridenour will co-present “Partnering With Community Arts Organizations to Transform Hospital Spaces and Healing Experiences” with Executive Director, Children's Foundation, and Vice President, Development, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Theresa Pesch.
May 6–8
Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) Midwest Conference
Cincinnati, OH
“Advancing Health Care Through Philanthropy”

2011
July 6–10
The 7th World Congress on Design and Health
Boston, MA
The International Academy for Design & Health and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health brought together an international group of elite practitioners, scholars, and policy makers in the fields of medicine, public health, and design to discuss today’s rapidly changing landscape.
Annette presented on: The inside process of transforming the healthcare experience through the arts.  

September 21
Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo
Chicago, IL
Leaders shared ideas about healthcare delivery improvement and how the physical space directly impacts the staff, patients and their families.
Presentation on: Co-creating a Culture of Possibility – about Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota with Vice President and Executive Director of the Foundation, Theresa Pesch
Annette presented at the Pre-conference Workshop

October 14–15
National Summit: Arts in Healing for Warriors
Bethesda, MD
Stimulating and interdisciplinary dialogue that highlighted important elements of the future of arts and medicine in the military.
Annette’s presentation: 10 key components of creating arts and healing experiences for wounded warriors

October 30–November 2
Planetree Annual Conference
Nashville, TN
As a global catalyst and leader, Planetree promotes the development and implementation of innovative models of health care which focus on healing and nurturing body, mind and spirit.
Presentation: “10 Simple Projects to Support Your Planetree Journey”
Annette Ridenour & Kortney Schemidt in person at booth #205
Aesthetics, Inc. is one of Planetree’s newest certified Visionary Design Network (VDN) members (Sept. 2011); Annette Ridenour is a founding VDN member.
Upcoming:
December 7–9
Healthcare Design Exchange
Del Mar, CA
Annette is attending this special invitation gathering, which connects health care designers, planners, suppliers and purchasing agents. Through education and networking, this exchange will offer strategic insights into the important advancements in healthcare design from the world's most innovative designers and suppliers.