2012
May 3
Society for the Arts in Healthcare  2012 Annual Conference:
Arts & Health: A Global View
Hosted by Children’s Hospital of Michigan
May 2–5, 2012, Detroit, MI
at the Westin Book Cadillac
Aesthetics CEO Annette Ridenour will co-present “Partnering With Community Arts Organizations to Transform Hospital Spaces and Healing Experiences” with Executive Director, Children's Foundation, and Vice President, Development, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Theresa Pesch.

May 6–8
Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) Midwest Conference
Cincinnati, OH
“Advancing Health Care Through Philanthropy”

2011
July 6–10
The 7th World Congress on Design and Health
Boston, MA
The International Academy for Design & Health and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health brought together an international group of elite practitioners, scholars, and policy makers in the fields of medicine, public health, and design to discuss today’s rapidly changing landscape.
Annette presented on: The inside process of transforming the healthcare experience through the arts.  

September 21
Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo
Chicago, IL
Leaders shared ideas about healthcare delivery improvement and how the physical space directly impacts the staff, patients and their families.
Presentation on: Co-creating a Culture of Possibility – about Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota with Vice President and Executive Director of the Foundation, Theresa Pesch
Annette presented at the Pre-conference Workshop

October 14–15
National Summit: Arts in Healing for Warriors
Bethesda, MD
Stimulating and interdisciplinary dialogue that highlighted important elements of the future of arts and medicine in the military.
Annette’s presentation: 10 key components of creating arts and healing experiences for wounded warriors

October 30–November 2
Planetree Annual Conference
Nashville, TN
As a global catalyst and leader, Planetree promotes the development and implementation of innovative models of health care which focus on healing and nurturing body, mind and spirit.
Presentation: “10 Simple Projects to Support Your Planetree Journey”
Annette Ridenour & Kortney Schemidt in person at booth #205
Aesthetics, Inc. is one of Planetree’s newest certified Visionary Design Network (VDN) members (Sept. 2011); Annette Ridenour is a founding VDN member.

December 7–9
Healthcare Design Exchange
Del Mar, CA
Annette is attending this special invitation gathering, which connects health care designers, planners, suppliers and purchasing agents. Through education and networking, this exchange will offer strategic insights into the important advancements in healthcare design from the world's most innovative designers and suppliers.

Welcome to Aesthetics, Inc.

Aesthetics is a holistic healthcare design firm that embraces multidisciplinary systems and strategies for wayfinding programs, interior architectural design, regional arts programs and interpretive displays.

Since 1980, the company's innovative work has transformed built environments and created healing experiences using evidence-based, patient-centered and holistic design principles.

Our extensive success in collaborations with more than 400 companies includes some of the largest and best-known healthcare and educational organizations in the United States and Canada, and has involved numerous major artists and architects from around the world.

Through a multidisciplinary team approach, we assist organizations in creating physical environments that reflect their history, culture and aspirations.

Aesthetics produces customized environments that are unique to each installation. Our commitment is to create spaces that inspire the human spirit, promote health and wellness, and respect human dignity.

Providing a sense of place and welcoming community – through art and design
A recent article in the November/December 2011 issue of Medical Construction & Design magazine describes how the expansion and modernization of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus serves its community by giving it a renewed sense of place, and connectivity within into the surrounding culture. Read the article here.

Aesthetics, Inc. has been an integral part of the project team, and has helped Children’s implement a vision for an Arts & Healing Urban Renewal Project with the local arts community that includes visual, presentation and performing arts organizations. Aesthetics’ art and interior design themes imbue a sense of discovery and wonder to the hospital and instill an identity in each level of the building. See more pictures on the Aesthetics website, for interior design, customer experience design, interpretive displays and wayfinding.

For more information about bringing a welcoming sense of place to your health care facility, please call 619-683-7500 or email info@aesthetics.net.

Lessons in the Healing Arts
Aesthetics completed two projects for San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital nearly two decades apart, as an arts consultant initially and, most recently, involving all of the firm’s disciplines—arts programs, interior design, wayfinding and interpretive displays—to make award-winning Rady’s Acute Care Pavilion a showcase of successful experience-based, patient-centered, holistic design.

In this article by Aesthetics CEO Annette Ridenour, published in the April 2011 issue of World Health Design, a leading international resource among healthcare design journals, Annette shared what she has learned about the relationship between the arts and healing. To read the informative article and see photographs of the beautiful hospital facility, click here.

The Culture of Possibility
An article by the same name appears in Healthcare Design magazine’s November/December 2011 issue, written by Aesthetics, Inc. CEO Annette Ridenour. Read an excerpt of this informative and timely article below or, to savor the entire piece at once, jump to the last paragraph and click on the link to the magazine’s site.

Hospitals are—as they should be—bastions of practical, pragmatic thinking. Because virtually every major decision can have profound consequences for patient health, fiscal soundness, staff engagement, and institutional identity, those decisions are generally weighed with great care and analytical rigor.
… [H]ospitals also represent some of the highest and most idealistic human aspirations: the healing of not just the body but also of the mind and the spirit; renewal of hope; and service to others.

To read more about The Culture of Possibility click here.