In the vacant space of the former Ulta Beauty at The Shops at Ithaca Mall, the display that caught my eye on a recent Saturday included not cosmetics but brightly colored sticky notes, Magic Marker drawings, file cards, Masking tape, yarn, pipe cleaners, Play-Doh, and more were on display.
Armed with these art supplies, more than 60 community members, nonprofit leaders, representatives from Cayuga Health System, and Cornell University faculty and students helped transform the mall and free up underutilized land. We collaborated on ideas to help transform it into a local health and wellbeing hub.
The prototype they developed at the April 12-13 “Rethinking” workshop “Malls for Health and Community” featured a walking path around and through the shopping center. A team of health advocates (human and robot) and a “navigation center” with a skylight. Classrooms, library, dining and play spaces. Natural areas in place of parking lots. There is also a garage and affordable apartment complexes.
Professor Mardel Shepley, from the University’s Department of Human-Centered Design, said: “People propose ideas that they think will best support human functioning, but we don’t decide whether or not they are possible, because anything is possible.” ” he said. in Human Ecology (CHE). “The question is, what do we encourage to happen in this mall? How can this mall be more successful and help the community more?”
The workshop, held in the style of a design charrette, was a collaboration between Cayuga Health System, the Cornell Institute for Health Futures (CIHF) (CHE and the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School). Co-sponsored in partnership with Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration and Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration. public policy. The effort was led by Laraparilla ’99, his manager of community and academic partnerships at Cayuga Health’s Partners, a visiting lecturer in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Master of Public Health program, and co-director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity. did. Julie Kermolt, MS ’08, Ph.D. 2009, is a senior lecturer in her Brooks School and associate director of her Sloan program in health management. Jennifer Turk, vice president of operations for Cayuga Health System; And Shepley.
Cayuga Health System has been a major presence at the mall since purchasing approximately 120,000 square feet for its medical clinic (located in the former Bon-Ton). The planned Cayuga Medical Professional Learning Center (in the former Sears building). We also carry out medical equipment business. Dr. Martin Stallone, President and CEO of Cayuga Health, is working to create more effective and equitable care in line with the concept of so-called medical malls and health villages, which are growing in popularity around the world. He said he envisions having various partners co-located to provide this service. Country.
“We strongly believe that partnerships are critical to impacting people and making a difference in people’s lives,” Stallone said at the beginning of the event. “First and foremost, we are very interested in learning what the community cites as its needs.”
To better understand and prioritize these needs, a team at Cornell University proposed a rethinking process facilitated by engineering firm Mazzetti and Troy Savage, strategic projects and innovation manager at the Sextant Foundation. The multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary approach emphasizes empathy, listening, teamwork, creativity, and “bolt-in-the-blue” thinking unconstrained by budgets, zoning regulations, and other potential obstacles.
Participants gathered at nine tables and combined their skills and life experiences. Participants included residents and community organizations familiar with health equity issues, including the Family Leading Partnership, Southside Community Center, Visiting Nurse Services, Ithaca County and Tompkins County This includes the YMCA. Healthcare workers and leaders. Local elected officials. Mall representative. Cornell participants are a multidisciplinary mix with expertise ranging from health policy and management to human-centered design, architecture, and hospitality. Dozens of undergraduate and master’s students participated in Shepley’s “Health and Healing Studio” course and Carmalt’s “Design for Health Equity” course.
One group has created a prototype “health city” that would include an apartment complex adjacent to the orchard, as well as indoor and outdoor trails, exercise equipment, a children’s play area, and more that could be assembled during community-building events. . The inspiration came from a family with an incarcerated parent.
“This is all about structural supports to help poorer people in our communities sustain their lives and become self-reliant,” said Taili Mugambi, program director of the Cornell University Transformation Center’s project Ultimate Reentry Opportunities. “As a result, a healthier society can be realized.” Actions to support people facing or formerly incarcerated. “If we take care of the health of these people, we add value to the community that offsets the costs.”
Another group imagined cancer patients in need of support and considered ways to help people navigate complex health and social care systems. Their proposal, or “core idea” as Savage called it, emphasized “whole health advocates” and educational support to foster connection and care.
“This mall space can be designed as a community hub where people can come, meet and receive support. It’s also a form of health care,” says Madeline, a health management master’s student and team member.・Ray ’23 said: . “It was interesting to see him explore different avenues of how something could go and see it all come together on paper in one day.”
Savage praised his collaborators for coming up with constructive ideas in such a short period of time.
“My hope is that we will embrace these and reimagine together what it looks like to build and rebuild our communities, and remove the barriers that prevent us from caring for each other as we wish. “It’s about learning to break through,” Savage said. “
Parrilla said several themes common across the group, such as improving navigation and access and injecting more natural and welcoming spaces into malls, will help advance preliminary concepts gleaned from a wide range of perspectives. He said he was deaf.
“Advancing health equity requires working across sectors and centering community voices, and today we have a formula to achieve that,” she said. . “It’s important that the community takes ownership of the changes that can happen here, and this is just the beginning.”
Kermalt said the rethinking efforts have reinforced the value of community-engaged learning and collaboration.
“We have vibrant students in our group who understand the importance of learning by doing something positive for the community, not for the community,” she said. Told. “I think we’ll be able to take the ideas that we’ve generated here and continue our campus and community partnerships to implement some of them. I can’t wait.”
