3: Jane Rohde

Join in this intimate conversation with Jane Rohde, Principal and Founder of JSR Associates Inc.——an architecture and interior design firm, specializing (and known for) senior living.

Jane believes in a global cultural shift toward de-institutionalized senior living facilities through research, advocacy, and humanistic approaches to care. She and her team are committed to supportive design that recognizes elders’ individuality and results in thriving, joyful environments.

It was hard to choose a favorite part of the interview because the entire conversation was magical. If I had to choose a favorite part, it was how Jane refers to her years in this field as a “covert operation”——asking senior living residents the right questions and then listening attentively to their answers, sneaking into management and operations meetings to uncover the biggest challenges and then working tirelessly to solve them. 

In 2015, Jane received the first Changemaker Award for Environments for Aging from The Center for Health Design and in 2018, she received the ASID Design for Humanity Award. In October 2018, she was a Women in Design honoree awarded by Healthcare Design Magazine. Jane has been recognized as an Honorary Alumni of Clemson University for her teaching contribution to the Architecture + Health program.

Jane is certified by the American College of Healthcare Architects, the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. She sits on various senior living, healthcare, and sustainability committees to support the creation of a tipping point for person-centered care environments like The Research Advisory Council which is the research arm of The Center for Health Design, the 2010 Cycle of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities, and the ASHRAE 189.2 High Performance Healthcare Facilities Committee.

Her specialties include: Senior living consulting, healthcare consulting, architecture and interior design for senior living and healthcare projects, focus groups, facilitations and development consulting. Learn more about Jane Rohde and JSR by visiting: http://www.jsrassociates.net/

Here’s what you’ll learn in the interview: 

• Germany’s fascinating medieval era community — The Fuggerei—one of the earliest known retirement communities where widowers and widows when to live, eat and wander through gardens when they were no longer able to work.
• How Jane opened her business because she saw a wide gap between operations, user needs, and design. She set out to close that gap by designing fully functioning spaces to better serve residents and staff.
• The story of Jane’s friend and senior living resident Miriam who influenced Jane to become a leader in making changes to the senior living environment, and the table Jane designed to help wheelchair bound Miriam have more dignity in social situations. * How the most rewarding aspects of this work are when you see a resident’s life changed for the good.
• The first step to take when you’re a new healthcare interior designer just starting out.
• Why education is now playing an increasingly important role in bringing more people to this field.
• How millennials are inspiring new senior living models.
• When senior residents look at themselves in the mirror, they see their vital self, not their current situation regardless of their physical, emotional or mental challenges. 

Visit us at  www.healthcareidpodcast.com  or email us at  [email protected]

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