In Part 1 of today’s episode, Cheryl speaks with Roderic Walton, AIA, NOMA, NCARB; Principal at Moody Nolan – the nation’s largest African American architecture firm. Cheryl and Roderic dive deep into the topic of race in healthcare and architecture. Cheryl asks Roderic what it’s like to work for the nation’s largest African American architecture firm. Roderic shares, “My individual performance is often represented as that of the entire African American community by so many people that I interact with, and it can be overwhelming. There are so few black architects practicing today and what that means is that often I am the only person of color who is in a leadership role, and looks like me, in most of my professional interactions.” Learn more about what the experience is like for people of color when they enter the healthcare space and why there is a direct correlation between what communities African Americans live in and the type of healthcare they receive, and how healthcare design and architecture professionals can truly change this. Tune in to part 1 of this deeply informative, compassionate and engaging interview with Roderic Walton.

Learn more about Roderic Walton,and Moody Nolan by visiting: http://moodynolan.com/.
Read Roderic Walton’s white paper entitled, “Equity in Healthcare: Healthcare in Black America, ‘Where We Are’ The Current State of Healthcare in America.” here:  https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity2 and here: https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity3

In Part 1 of Cheryl’s conversation with Roderic Walton they discuss:

• What is it really like for Roderic (a person of color) to work for the nation’s largest African American architecture firm — Moody Nolan — who, among other areas of focus, address issues of disparity and uplift communities that have been disenfranchised?
• The story of Roderic’s early experience of racism in the field of architecture and how this was a wake-up call that race was going to be an issue.
• What led to Roderic’s decision to write a powerful white paper entitled, “Equity in Healthcare: Healthcare in Black America, ‘Where We Are’ The Current State of Healthcare in America?”
• Roderic’s white paper unpacks the complex relationship between racism, redlining, and the current asymmetry in health outcomes for Black and other minority communities. Here are two links to this read this white paper: https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity2 and https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity3
• COVID has highlighted one vivid and easy-to-understand example of racial bias translating to real harm, and that is the way that pulse oximeters have reduced accuracy with dark-pigmented skin. Roderic shares other examples of harm resulting from bias — or outright racism — that listeners might be less aware of.
• What is the experience like for people of color when they enter the healthcare space?
• What is the direct correlation between what communities African Americans live in and the type of healthcare they receive?
• What was the foundation that was used to justify discrimination that we’ve seen historically?
• It’s obvious to anyone willing to look that Black, Indigenous, and People of color are underrepresented in architecture. This is a group that is around 40% of the US population and 2% of architecture. What has contributed to this?
• Why has the healthcare design and architecture industry, despite some effort at diversity and inclusion, failed to make much improvement here?
• Roderic walks us through the journey that got him to where he is today.
• Why did Roderic pursue a career where he looks around a typical meeting room and sees so few people like himself?
• Moody Nolan was given the 2021 AIA Gold Medal and Firm Award. Roderic shares what this means to him and to his firm.
• How has Paul Revere Williams, the first certified African-American architect west of the Mississippi influenced the work that Roderic and Moody Nolan does today?

The world is changing quickly. The Center for Health Design is committed to providing the healthcare design and senior living design industries with the latest research, best practices and innovations. The Center can help you solve today’s biggest healthcare challenges and make a difference in care, safety, medical outcomes, and the bottom line.  Find out more at healthdesign.org.

Additional support for this podcast comes from our industry partners:

• The American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers
• The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design

Learn more about how to become a Certified Healthcare Interior Designer®  by visiting the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers at: https://aahid.org/.

Connect to a community interested in supporting clinician involvement in design and construction of the built environment by visiting The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design at https://www.nursingihd.com/

Thank you for listening to today’s episode of Healthcare Interior Design 2.0. If you enjoyed any part of Cheryl’s conversation with Roderic Walton, please help our podcast grow by spreading the good word on social media and with your online community. Stay safe and be well. For the full roster of shows, visit http://healthcareidpodcast.com.

In part 2 of Cheryl’s engaging interview with Roderic Walton, AIA, NOMA, NCARB, Principal at Moody Nolan, Cheryl asks Roderic the question, “When thinking about the future, how can healthcare design and architecture professionals begin to change entrenched systems that are the source of some of these race-related problems?” Roderic shares, “The solution starts with an understanding that it’s not just about individual folks solving their own problems, picking themselves up by their bootstraps and overcoming centuries of oppression. The study of history is clear, it’s instructive; we have a collective responsibility to address these types of concerns. Architects can become active participants in community engagement and outreach activities, and really position ourselves as being much more inclusive and receptive to the notion that we have elective responsibility here to address these issues of oppression. And because we are architects does not mean the problem lies outside of our industry. We are part of the solution.” This and so much more on the changing face of healthcare design on part 2 of today’s episode with Roderic Walton available now.

Learn more about Roderic Walton,and Moody Nolan by visiting: http://moodynolan.com/.
Read Roderic Walton’s white paper entitled, “Equity in Healthcare: Healthcare in Black America, ‘Where We Are’ The Current State of Healthcare in America.” here:  https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity2 and here: https://www.nomanash.com/healthequity3

In Part 2 of Cheryl’s conversation with Roderic Walton, they discuss:

• Roderic specializes in Building Information Modeling (BIM), and utilizing state-of-the-art 3D modeling technology in order to facilitate the production of coordinated and quality controlled deliverables. What is this exactly and how does Moody Nolan use this with their clients to project reliable models and solutions?
• How does Moody Nolan bring to bear a unique and irreplaceable combination of people, perspective, and process. What makes the firm unique in this way?
• In Roderic’s white paper entitled, “Equity in Healthcare: Healthcare in Black America, ‘Where We Are’ The Current State of Healthcare in America,” (see link in show notes) Roderic talks about solutions. When thinking about the future, Roderic shares how healthcare design and architecture professionals can begin to change entrenched systems that are the source of some of these problems.
• What does Roderic mean when he says that we (architects) need to be involved further downstream in the “operation of the spaces we’ve been involved in designing.”
• What does Roderic mean when he says, “The community is the healthcare system?”
• How does Roderic and his team connect the community with the design of a hospital or healthcare space in that community?
• With almost any complex problem, there are solutions. They range from simple-but-wrong to effective-but-difficult. Roderic unpacks this and gives examples.
• What are the simple-but-wrong solutions to bias and racism that are most discussed within healthcare architecture?
• In the past year, have Moody Nolan’s hospital partners been open to more change? If so, how?
• Why is patient-centered care a fundamental right and no longer optional?
• How can thought leadership in healthcare design be conduits for transformational change?
• Are there building projects that we can learn from as we work towards a more equitable and inclusive world?
• What will we see in 50 years if we all work together towards a more equitable future?
• How can the healthcare design and architecture industry engage and inspire more youth of color to move into this field?
• What advice does Roderic have for architecture and design students who are interested in healthcare but are also afraid of it?

The world is changing quickly. The Center for Health Design is committed to providing the healthcare design and senior living design industries with the latest research, best practices and innovations. The Center can help you solve today’s biggest healthcare challenges and make a difference in care, safety, medical outcomes, and the bottom line.  Find out more at healthdesign.org.
Additional support for this podcast comes from our industry partners:

• The American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers
• The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design

Learn more about how to become a Certified Healthcare Interior Designer®  by visiting the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers at: https://aahid.org/.

Connect to a community interested in supporting clinician involvement in design and construction of the built environment by visiting The Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design at https://www.nursingihd.com/

Thank you for listening to today’s episode of Healthcare Interior Design 2.0. If you enjoyed any part of Cheryl’s conversation with Roderic Walton, please help our podcast grow by spreading the good word on social media and with your online community. Stay safe and be well. For the full roster of shows, visit http://healthcareidpodcast.com.