At a Tuesday lunchtime ceremony at the HEALTHCARE DESIGN.11 conference in Nashville, The Center for Health Design, joined by several of its partners, handed out its annual awards to the healthcare design community. Honoring colleagues and peers for everything ranging from architecture to product design, the ceremony was a celebration of the industry's achievements, both over the course of the last year and, in the case of the Changemaker Award, the course of a long and storied career.

Now in its 20th year, the Healthcare Environment Awards recognize excellence in new or renovated facility designs, as well as student design concepts. Presented by Contract magazine, The Center for Health Design, and Vendome Group, the awards (as well as the Nightingale Awards that followed) were announced by John Czarnecki, Editor-in-Chief of Contract magazine. This year's winners were included in the October issue of Contract and were provided with complimentary registrations to this year's conference.

The industry's first and most prestigious healthcare product design competition, the Nightingale Awards honor the best new products exhibited at HEALTHCARE DESIGN every year. This year's winners were:

  • cf stinson for the Esprit Collection Privacy Curtains for Healthcare
  • Colonial Bronze/CuVerro -Olin Brass f or Cu Salaus Antimicrobial Copper Hardware
  • Momentum Textiles for Silica
  • Nurture for the Empath Recliner
  • Wieland for SleepToo, which was also recognized with Best of Competition status

In addition, the judges awarded Honorable Mentions to KI for Soltice 7; Chinook Acoustics Inc. for the HUSH Curtain; and Mannington Commercial Flooring for the Vivendi Collection.

Finally, The Center for Health Design's Changemaker Award is presented by The Center's Board of Directors on an individual or group that has demonstrated the exceptional ability to affect change in healthcare facility design. This year's winner was Kaiser Permanente's John Kouletsis, who, along with his team, keeps up with the responsibilities of the largest managed care organization in the United States, includng Kaiser's Template Hospital Project, Hospital of the Future Project, and High Performance Buildings Initiative. His department is also responsible for the continuous development and improvement of the Kaiser Permanente Standards Program, and he is a sponsor of the Sidney R. Garfield Centers for Health Care Innovation in Oakland, California.

In addition, Kouletsis is a member of the Facility Guidelines Institute's Healthcare Guidelines Revision Committee and The Center for Health Design's EDAC Advisory Council. An interview with Kouletsis and The Center for Health Design's Sara Marberry will appear in the January 2012 issue of HEALTHCARE DESIGN magazine.

Congratulations to all the winners!