OVERVIEW

How often have you passed the time at the doctor’s office leafing through torn edged magazines featuring last week’s bad news?  How long have you waited in a tiny room with nothing to do but look out of a window onto lifeless structures?  How many long corridors have you wandered down searching for the right door? Now, imagine having Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome where long hallways trigger fear, where dark corners potentially house bombs, and where closed doors sound alarm bells.  Then imagine that healthcare design might actually be part of the cure.  Imagine a safe, comfortable, peaceful world where mental and physical stress have not only been considered, but are paramount to the critical analysis that informs the affect of therapeutic environments. Today, consider healthy design.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) afflicts many Americans with military veterans in particular being effected in staggering numbers. Over 120,000 US military servicemen and women were diagnosed with PTSD between 2004-2012.  This month’s show explores innovative thinking and an unlikely band of combatants coming together to fight for the cause through thoughtful design.

Our guests today are clinical psychologist at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Edward Vega, Ph.D., Innovative thinker and Perkins+Will architect, Matt Finn, and US Marine Corp veteran, Corporal Clint McMahan.  Through our interviews, we hope the listener will find as we did that design does matter and can help make for healthier environments.  This is an important and fascinating show, one that we hope will inspire others to be innovative, be thoughtful, and remember all of the consequences of combat.

EXTRA: Read “Posttraumatic Understanding” by Matt Finn.

In honor of Memorial Day, we offer respect and remembrance to all those who gave their lives in service of this country, and give thanks to all those still serving. Enjoy a safe holiday weekend. We’ll see you next month.