The busy season is upon us at Healthcare Design. As the summer winds down, our team is ramping up as we hurtle toward the upcoming HCD Forum taking place Sept. 13-15 in Santa Fe, N.M., quickly followed by the 2021 Healthcare Design Expo & Conference being held Oct. 23-26 in Cleveland.
Given the journey we’ve all been on over the course of the past year-plus, it’s a good kind of busy.
And from what I’ve heard, many of you are in the same boat. Some recent conversations with industry members have indicated project work is as robust as ever, with the potential to possibly exceed where we were pre-COVID-19.
But as this current surge of the virus plays out, I’m reminded of the vast contribution so many of you made before business felt anything like usual—particularly as we prepared this special HCD 10 issue. The HCD 10 program itself celebrates the accomplishments of individual industry members across nine professional categories and one organization. Nominations are weighed based on the specific contributions made over the 12 months preceding the submission period, in this case spring 2020 to spring 2021.
As you may imagine, the thread of COVID-19 ran through many of the nominations. The editors and I reviewed dozens of narratives sharing the impressive ways industry members stepped up with thoughtful design solutions to help alleviate the universal pressure our healthcare system has faced. And when you page through the profiles of our 2021 winners, I think you, too, will be inspired by what our colleagues achieved.
It’s not just about the direct response to the pandemic, either. The winners’ stories capture a clear trajectory healthcare design is on to address the peripheral challenges that were brought to light over these months—issues tied to community health, resiliency, sustainability, and mental health. Even when we’re at last able to put COVID-19 behind us, the path we’re taking as an industry has been shaped by living through it.
So when I think about all that work we’re collectively doing, I’m excited to consider where it’s taking us next. And I’d love to hear from you on where you think that is. To that end, please take a moment to respond to our 2021 Healthcare Design COVID-19 Industry Survey that’s open now (find details at HCDmagazine.com/2021-covid-survey). The survey digs into how you and your company fared throughout the pandemic, your thoughts on the course business will take from here, and where you see the focus of new projects landing going forward.
We’ll share the results in an upcoming issue of Healthcare Design. For now, enjoy this one and the busyness of summer.
