Wow! How? Patient-led Design

Michael Graves, the renowned architect and designer, was hospitalized in 2003 when a sinus infection spread to his spinal cord, a very rare occurrence. He survived but was paralyzed from the chest down. 

As he moved among hospitals and rehabilitation centers, Graves was struck by how the patient rooms and furniture were not only ugly, but also seemed to be designed to defeat their stated purpose of healing. Someone using a wheelchair could not reach the faucets to turn on the water in the sink, for example. The bathroom mirror was set at the height of a standing person despite the fact that every patient in the facility was seated. And the list went on and on.

Graves began to draw. 

He sketched furniture that could be easily moved and manipulated to serve people’s needs, like a bedside cabinet with a two-way drawer to allow access from both sides. He designed chairs with larger handles to help people stand up independently. This extraordinary artist, who had designed libraries, museums, homes, and hotels, then pivoted to creating beautiful everyday housewares for Target, now partnered with Stryker Medical to produce hospital furniture. Graves also worked with CVS to create adaptive equipment like shower chairs, travel walkers, and commodes. He channeled his frustration and experience into new product lines that have transformed the hardware of health care.

Michael Graves, a hero of patient-led design, died in 2015. In the lexicon of my book, Rebel Health, he was a Solver and a Champion. He used his talents and his formidable power in the design industry to solve problems that had been previously ignored.

If you’d like to learn more about him, I recommend watching his 2012 keynote at Stanford Medicine X.

Image: Michael Graves on stage at Stanford.