Take Care Health Employers Solutions is comprised of the former CHD Meridian Healthcare and Whole Health Management, which first made contact with Kahn prior to becoming part of the Walgreens Health and Wellness Company in 2008. As the nation’s premier provider of workplace-based health care services, Take Care Health currently operates approximately 370 workplace health centers and pharmacies – or “Healthy Living Centers” – for 180 clients in 45 states, including Washington, D.C., and Guam.
In early 2007, CHD Meridian Healthcare executives visited the Kahn-designed, Derby, Connecticut, headquarters of Planetree, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and collaborating with the healthcare community to promote healing environments – and a longtime collaborator and client of Kahn’s. Seeking to create a Healthy Living Center brand identity reflective of the patient-centered care approach espoused by Planetree, CHD Meridian Healthcare followed up on that visit – which included an enthusiastic Planetree endorsement of Kahn – by exploring a working partnership with Kahn.
Strength and Efficiency
“We interviewed multiple architectural firms,” says Dr. Jay Rosan, Take Care Health’s Senior Vice President, Health Innovation, who was part of that CHD Meridian Healthcare team, “but what helped most in making the selection was Kahn’s sincere ability to listen to what we wanted – not to what they wanted. Each of our clients wants something different, and that didn’t seem to faze Kahn. They understood that we’d have a standard, but it would have to be customized, so to speak, for every client’s specific needs.”
Alan Cobb, FAIA, LEED AP, Take Care Health Project Principal, was just as inspired by his would-be client’s business model as Rosan and his team were by their tour of Planetree, and by Kahn’s work in implementing Planetree principles.
“They have a well-researched and established system that promotes wellness, fitness, and good nutrition in the corporate environment,” Cobb says of Take Care. “And they have exceptional data that demonstrates that employee participation results not only in a healthier and more productive work force but in significantly reduced health insurance costs as well.”
“The other architectural firms talked as if they understood us, and that they could be flexible and adaptable,” says Rosan. “But there wasn’t a sense that they really could be in the way we felt that Kahn could.”
Energy and Productivity
Rosan describes initial development efforts as “extremely collaborative, with multiple sessions that enabled Kahn to understand our personality and what we were looking to accomplish.” Cobb believes Take Care Health was also influenced by Kahn’s work with southeast Wisconsin-based Aurora Health Care, which involved the establishment of prototype hospitals and clinics that have been replicated a number of times.
“We shared with them our image analysis process and proposed that we develop architectural guidelines to be applied to every facility,” says Cobb. “We wanted to have a kind of kit of parts we could use to create the right image for each facility within the various client spaces” – which include not only corporate headquarters but also factories, mining operations, and even casinos.
Kahn’s Mike Durand, PE, LEED AP, another Project Principal for Take Care Health, says the establishment of a brand identity requires not just a detailed architectural layout or design but a palpable feeling – which he says Dr. Rosan readily conveys.
“Our relationship with [Dr. Rosan] has been the key,” says Durand. “Whenever we start talking with him about a new opportunity or a new facility he gets everyone all charged up. He’s got a lot of energy, and that’s conducive to doing your best work.”
Vitality and Devotion.The Perfect Ratio.
Kahn and Take Care Health Employer Solutions. The Perfect Ratio.
