Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

jennifer kovacs silvis eng

IC4HD interviews Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, EFA Magazine

jennifer kovacs silvis eng

IC4HD interviews Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief at Environments for Aging Magazine, who shares her thoughts and impressions about the 2021 edition of Environment For Aging Expo + Conference.

The EFA Magazine is the industry’s premier source of insight, information, and inspiration, delivering to readers the latest senior living design news and in-depth coverage of new projects and trends.

How is your impression of the industry you’ve met at EFA?

The industry members who attend the EFA Expo & Conference are a passionate group of professionals driven by the shared mission of improving environments where people age. Many of them attend the show each year, embracing the annual opportunity to learn, network, and explore new products—all with the goal of walking away with fresh ideas to help support the design of environments where seniors can thrive.

What are the main innovations this COVID pandemic has brought to the industry?

Senior living designers and community owners/operators have learned a great deal about how smaller household models of care proved to be beneficial in controlling the spread of COVID-19 among residents and staff versus larger, institutional environments. That will be a key consideration moving forward for higher-acuity settings. However, across all levels of care and community types, the industry gained new appreciation for the value of social interaction and outdoor settings. Achieving meaningful connections between residents via built environment solutions and creating activated and purposeful outdoor areas will drive new projects in the future. 

Regarding the conference sessions, which are the themes that gained more attention?

In addition to the topics above, the industry is interested in how the design community can influence more affordable senior housing/support residential options for the middle market and achieve environments that offer opportunities for interaction between multiple generations by being integrated in existing neighbourhoods. These are themes that were top of mind pre-pandemic and that we anticipate will remain so going forward. 

Can you already give us some anticipation about EFA 2022? Any special features to be introduced?

The 2022 EFA Expo will return to our usual spring schedule April 2-5 in Milwaukee. We have a great session lineup in place across five tracks including Design Innovation, Community Engagement, and Case Studies & Lessons Learned. The expo hall is filling up quickly, and we’ll soon be identifying local senior living communities for attendee tours and planning our annual networking party to take full advantage of the local culture and flavor of our host city.

What are the expectations about the upcoming HCD?

The healthcare design industry is excited to be together in person again, safely. We’re thrilled that the event will take place in Cleveland, too—a home to numerous healthcare institutions and care delivery innovations (and the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll). We’ll be in the heart of downtown at the Huntington Convention Center, offering 20 hours of CEU-certified educational sessions, provocative keynote presentations, generous expo hall hours, annual awards celebrations, and networking events including our Cleveland ROCKS party.

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design coordinates the participation of Italian companies and institutions to international events for hospitality and contract design like EFA Expo + Conference. Contact us at contract@lanariassociates.com to find out more about our services and read the series of IC4HD interviews.

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Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

IC4HD interviews: Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, HealthCare Design Magazine

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief at Healthcare Design Magazine, gives IC4HD her point of view about healthcare design industry and future trends.

Healthcare Design magazine, its website, and its live events (including HCD Expo + Conference), are collectively the industry’s best source of information, insight, and motivation for the creation of healthcare spaces that promote healing, support clinician and staff workflows, and contribute to a healthcare system’s bottom line.

What is your pulse on the healthcare design industry at the moment?

The healthcare design industry has spent the past year deeply involved in the response to COVID-19, partnering with healthcare providers to identify/modify spaces to support patient surge, create testing and triage sites, rethink entry sequences and support social distancing, and integrate design and environmental solutions that allow facilities to remain open and safe. However, through it all, new healthcare construction projects were still in progress and, thankfully, we haven’t heard of many significant delays or cancellations. Our sense is that the industry remains strong and optimistic for the future. Healthcare design will certainly change after this, and our industry is ready to help providers navigate what’s to come.

 

In presence vs virtual events: what are your feelings about the opportunities of these different ways?

The ability to hold virtual events in absence of in-person gatherings has been a lifesaver for this industry. Even as we grow weary of Zoom meetings, the ability to connect with others and interact in real time is invaluable. This new normal has challenged event producers like EmeraldX to rethink how we traditionally create and share content, connect industry members, and showcase new products and services. What we’ve realized along the way is that virtual platforms allow us to reach new people and engage with the industry in an entirely new way. And so we anticipate an opportunity for both in-person and virtual channels to exist and demand for hybrid events to grow.
But with that said, no matter how good a virtual event, you can’t replace the magic of being together physically — there are some human experiences you just can’t replicate via technology. Touching and testing products first-hand cannot be fully reproduced online, and our buyers miss that. We’re hearing from both attendees and exhibitors that they are incredibly eager to get back to this kind of interaction this fall.

 

Can you identify any particular trend that has become increasingly important in healthcare projects due to Covid emergency?

One lesson that’s emerged from this crisis is the importance of having flexible and adaptable spaces in healthcare facilities. It’s not necessarily a new topic for the design industry, but the value of such solutions has now been proven. Hospitals and other settings that were able to quickly modify their spaces to accommodate patient surge or introduce heightened infection control initiatives benefited from existing infrastructure and architecture that allowed it. While another event at the scale of COVID-19 may not occur again within the lifespan of a healthcare facility being built/renovated today, these principles will be critical to managing similar crises, such as mass-casualty incidents, natural disasters, seasonal spikes in volume such as flu season, and other epidemic or pandemic scenarios. We anticipate healthcare organizations will make it a priority to invest in flexible/adaptable solutions on projects going forward.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design, besides coordinating the participation to Healthcare Design Expo+Conference (Cleveland, OH, October 23 to 26, 2021), creates connections between Italian companies and the professionals of healthcare design sector in the US. To read the series of IC4HD interviews, follow IC4HD interviews

in BLOG / Interviews
Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

IC4HD intervista Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, HealthCare Design Magazine

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Editor-in-Chief di Healthcare Design Magazine, ha rilasciato un’interessante intervista a IC4HD. Le sue risposte danno un quadro davvero preciso sulla situazione del settore healthcare negli USA e sulle prospettive future.

HealthCare Design Magazine è una fonte autorevole per i professionisti dell’healthcare design e fornisce aggiornamenti e approfondimenti su come il design influisca direttamente su sicurezza, operatività, risultati clinici e successo finanziario delle strutture sanitarie.

Qual è il suo punto di vista sull’healthcare design al momento?

I professionisti del design per l’healthcare sono stati molto coinvolti durante l’anno appena trascorso per trovare soluzioni in partnership con le strutture sanitarie. Le sfide principali hanno riguardato principalmente l’individuazione o la modifica di spazi per affrontare il picco di afflusso di pazienti, la creazione di aree di test e di triage, lo studio dei flussi di entrata e uscita per garantire il distanziamento, nonché lo sviluppo di soluzioni che permettessero alle strutture di rimanere aperte e sicure. Nonostante questo grande impegno, i progetti per le nuove costruzioni di strutture sanitarie sono andati avanti e non mi risulta ci siano state grandi cancellazioni o rinvii.
La sensazione è che l’industria sia rimasta forte e ottimista. Il design in ambito healthcare certamente subirà dei cambiamenti e noi siamo pronti a tracciare la rotta delle nuove tendenze.

 

Eventi in presenza vs eventi virtuali: quali sono le sfide e le opportunità di queste due possibilità?

La possibilità di connettersi virtualmente in mancanza degli eventi in presenza è stata vitale per l’industria. È vero, siamo stanchi dei meeting su Zoom, ma la connessione e l’interazione in tempo reale sono inestimabili. Questa nuova normalità rappresenta una sfida per i produttori di eventi come EmeraldX per ripensare alle modalità di creazione e condivisione dei contenuti, di connessione tra i professionisti del settore, di presentazione di nuovi prodotti e servizi. Ci siamo resi conto che le piattaforme virtuali consentono di raggiungere e coinvolgere le persone in un modo completamente nuovo. È un’opportunità da esplorare, quella di far crescere eventi ibridi, che coniughino l’esperienza in presenza con quella virtuale.
Ciò detto, indipendentemente dalla qualità dell’evento virtuale, è impossibile ricreare la magia che si crea nel ritrovarsi in persona… ci sono esperienze che non possono essere riprodotte con nessuna tecnologia. Toccare e testare prodotti di mano propria, ad esempio, è qualcosa che ai buyer manca. Sia visitatori che espositori ci dicono che non vedono l’ora di tornare a incontrarsi questo autunno a Cleveland (Ohio) in occasione di HealthCare Design Expo+Conference.

 

Intravede un trend che sta diventando particolarmente importante nei progetti healthcare a seguito dell’emergenza Covid?

Certamente una lezione che il settore ha imparato da questa crisi è l’importanza di avere spazi flessibili e adattabili nelle strutture sanitarie. Non è una novità, ma l’industria ha avuto prova dell’importanza di simili soluzioni. Infrastrutture e architetture che hanno consentito agli ospedali e gli altri complessi di modificare velocemente gli spazi per accogliere il picco di pazienti o introdurre iniziative di controllo dei contagi sono state un grande vantaggio. Le criticità che sono state messe in evidenza dalla pandemia di Covid-19 diventeranno fondamentali nella gestione di emergenze simili, quali incidenti di massa, disastri naturali, picchi di malattie stagionali come l’influenza o altre epidemie. Possiamo prevedere che le organizzazioni sanitarie avranno come priorità quella di investire in soluzioni flessibili e adattabili su progetti in fase di sviluppo.

 

 

Italian Contract 4 Hospitality Design, oltre a organizzare la partecipazione a HealthCare Design Expo+Conference (Cleveland, OH, 23-26 ottobre 2021), mette in contatto le aziende italiane con i professionisti del settore contract USA. Per leggere le altre interviste, seguite IC4HD interviews

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