Women’s Health Week is a week-long observance coordinated by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health. This is a program designed to encourage women across the nation to take charge of their health. With the focus being placed more and more on wellness, prevention and screening, a sound state of health is indeed something we all need to be on our way to having!
This week kicks off with National Women’s Checkup Day on Monday, May 11th. Women are encouraged to schedule checkups related to routine screenings for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions. Based on some data from the American Cancer Society, in recent years, the number of women getting mammograms screening for breast cancer has actually decreased for many healthcare providers which could be related to the economy as well as a lack of insurance. Here is an opportunity to get back on track with making those yearly appointments and catching any illness in its early stages. Also kicking off will be the eight-week Women’s Challenge. This is an online physical activity program which encourages women to participate in weekly physical activities in order to realize the health benefits associated with this such as lowering their risk for certain diseases. For more information related to Women’s Health Week go to…http://www.womenshealth.gov/whw/
“LOOK” A perspective on any given day or time about women and children in healthcare environments. By sharing our knowledge and experiences at Talk Women’s and Children’s, our goal is to create discussion and be a resource for individuals practicing architecture.
Why? Why Wellness? Why Design? Why Children?
Life has purpose, and I am serving my purpose everyday by doing what I love…creating places and spaces for children.
What will I share? What I learn. What I think. What I see.
What will I ask? What have you learned? What do you think? What do you see?
Join us as we Talk Wellness…and choose new ways to work and live as we create places and spaces for children.
Over the past several years, our healthcare system has spiraled into a state of chaos due to what many suspect is the result of patients being uninsured or underinsured, reliance on an antiquated approach to medical record keeping and lack of preventative health programs. We have beared witness to the routine practice of ERs used for primary care, seen the rise of a bariatric population and wondered why nursing units are still planned with conventional (paper) charts model. For these reasons and certainly a myriad of others, America has become increasingly unhealthy. The reform agenda proposes to address these issues in the following ways:
- Substantially increase the number of Americans who have access to healthcare insurance programs.
- Improve the quality of healthcare through the implementation of an electronic based health records system.
- Require coverage of preventative/screening programs.
How might we expect such policies to impact our buildings as these unfold over the next few months and years? For starters, it may be reasonable to expect that the greater numbers of insured will alleviate the drain that is placed on the ERs. While ERs might expect to experience a decrease, it would be reasonable then to presume that all those primary care givers may start to see a greater influx of patients. Perhaps this may generate the need to remodel and/or expand primary care offices to accommodate the increase in volume? Time will tell.
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