Community Engagement
As part of our Editorial team’s daily efforts to bring you relevant industry news (and to keep up to speed on topics we should be covering in print and online), there are a variety of news feeds we peruse and websites we check. One of my favorites saved to my “favorites” is the Construction Blog for Seattle Children’s cancer and critical care expansion project.
The blog was started in August 2010 and features the following statement explaining its goal:
“Seattle Children’s is embarking on a journey to expand the hospital to meet the health care needs of our region’s children. We created this blog to help keep patients, families, and community members informed about our cancer and critical care expansion progress, and potential construction impacts. The blog will be updated by members of the facility or planning teams each week.”
The page is chock-full of information about the project, including weekly bulletins that lay out precisely what work is being completed in coming days. Blog topics include construction updates, milestone events, renderings and design, and a video series called “I Am Seattle Children’s” that places a spotlight on staff and volunteers who make up the hospital.
There’s even a 24-hour emergency hotline that provides a name and number for Sellen Construction’s project superintendent and a live video feed of the construction site.
In every way, the details of this project are delivered in a way that pulls community members in by not only sharing daily comings and goings, but making the team (from inside and out) accessible.
I know plenty of sites like this exist out there, and I hope that number only grows. Seattle Children’s, for me, serves as an example of what’s being done and how from the time the very first plan for a project is drawn, the team behind it can inspire a community to become not only engaged, but truly invested in what’s being accomplished.
Our team at Healthcare Building Ideas would love to hear how readers are working to engage community members. Share your stories in the comments section below.
