Health Benefits of Nearby Nature – Legacy Health Talk

Health Benefits of Nearby Nature
Dr. Roger Ulrich and Dr. Geoffrey Donovan present on the relationship between trees, gardens, nature and
public health: Trees and well-designed nature settings are part of our public health infrastructure!
Sponsored by: Friends of Trees, J. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation, Lewis & Clark Graduate
School of Counseling, Legacy Health, PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions, TKF Foundation and ZGF
Architects LLP.
Thursday, September 12, 2013, at Portland State University’s Hoffmann Hall 1833 SW Eleventh
Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97201.
Doors open at 6 pm for registration, networking, educational displays and refreshments.
Presentation 7 pm – 9 pm.
$10 for early registration until Sept 5, 5 pm. No refunds for cancellations.
Register online: Health Benefits of Nearby Nature
$15 day of event. Cash or check accepted at the door. Sorry, no debit/credit.
6:00 pm Doors Open.
Registration, Networking, Educational Displays and Refreshments
7:00 pm Roger S. Ulrich, Ph.D. and Geoffrey Donovan, Ph.D.
Lecture, Dialogue between the Experts and Questions from the Audience
Details:
Roger S. Ulrich, Ph.D.
Nature heals the human body.
Roger S. Ulrich is Professor of Architecture at the Center for Healthcare Building Research at Chalmers
University of Technology in Sweden, and is adjunct professor of architecture at Aalborg University in
Denmark. He is the most frequently cited researcher internationally in evidence-based healthcare
design. Among other achievements, his research was the first to document scientifically the stress-reducing
and health-related benefits for hospital patients of viewing nature.
In his past role as director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University, Dr. Ulrich
found that nature can help the body heal. In his groundbreaking study, Dr. Ulrich investigated the effect that
views from windows had on patients recovering from abdominal surgery. He discovered that patients whose hospital rooms provided a view of trees got out of the hospital faster, had fewer complications, and required
less pain medication than those who had a view of a brick wall.
Like other researchers, Dr. Ulrich has found that simply viewing representations of nature can help. For
example, he found that heart surgery patients in intensive care units at a Swedish hospital could reduce their
anxiety and need for pain medication by looking at pictures depicting nature of trees and water.
Dr. Ulrich’s work has received many awards, directly impacted the design of billions of dollars of hospital
construction, and improved the health outcomes and safety of patients around the world. His work has
influenced internationally the architecture and interior design of scores of major hospitals. Further, Dr. Ulrich
has developed a Theory of Evidence-Based Design that has become influential as a scientifically grounded
and “user friendly” guide for creating successful healthcare facilities. His recent work has dealt with subjects
as varied as the effects of single- versus multi-bed patient rooms on infection transmission, the negative
impacts of hospital noise on patients and nurses, and how nature, gardens, and art can lessen pain, stress,
and healthcare costs.
Dr. Ulrich was co-founding director of the Center for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University,
an interdisciplinary center housed jointly in the colleges of Architecture and Medicine. From 2005-2006 he
served at the invitation of Britain’s National Health Service as senior adviser on patient care environments for
the UK program to create scores of new hospitals.
Dr. Ulrich has published widely in both scientific and design journals, and his research has received
international scientific recognition. He has worked extensively in Scandinavia, especially Sweden, where he
has carried out research at Lund Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, and the Karolinska Institute of
Medicine. He has also been Visiting Research Professor in Healthcare Architecture at the University of
Florence, Italy and served as Invitation Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
He also serves as advisor on evidence–based healthcare design for the British National Health Services. He
is a member of the Board of Directors of The Center for Health Design, California, and serves as co-chair of
its national Research Committee.
Geoffrey Donovan, Ph.D.
Trees don’t make our cities livable, they make them survivable.
Geoffrey Donovan, Ph.D. will present results from two recent studies examining the relationship between
trees and public health. Humans need green space and trees to survive.
Dr. Donovan is a Research Forester with the USDA Forest Service and has quantified a wide range of urbantree benefits. These have ranged from intuitive benefits— for example, reduced summertime cooling costs—
to less intuitive benefits such as crime reduction. More recently, he has focused on the relationship between
trees and public health. He found that mothers with trees around their homes are less likely to have
underweight babies, and when trees are killed by an invasive pest, more people die from cardiovascular and

Health Benefits of Nearby Nature

legacyLogoWebDr. Roger Ulrich and Dr. Geoffrey Donovan present on the relationship between trees, gardens, nature and  public health: Trees and well-designed nature settings are part of our public health infrastructure!

Sponsored by: Friends of Trees, J. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation, Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Counseling, Legacy Health, PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions, TKF Foundation and ZGF Architects LLP.

DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2013

TIME: Doors open at 6 pm for registration, networking, educational displays and refreshments.
Presentation 7 pm – 9 pm.

 

LOCATION : Portland State University
Hoffmann Hall [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][GOOGLE MAP]
1833 SW 11th Avenue
Portland, OR 97201

COST: $10 for early registration until Sept 5, 5 pm.
NO REFUNDS FOR CANCELLATIONS.
$15 day of event. Cash or check accepted at the door. Sorry, no debit/credit.

Event Details:

Speakers:

Roger S. Ulrich, Ph.D.Nature heals the human body.

Geoffrey Donovan, Ph.D. – Trees don’t make our cities livable, they make them survivable.

Presenting the evidence base for health benefits of nature in our neighborhoods.

Dr. Ulrich is Professor of Architecture at the Center for Healthcare Building Research at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and is adjunct professor of architecture at Aalborg University in Denmark. He is the most frequently cited researcher internationally in evidence-based healthcare design.  Among other achievements, his research was the first to document scientifically the stress-reducing and health-related benefits for hospital patients of viewing nature.

Geoffrey Donovan, Ph.D. will present results from two recent studies examining the relationship between trees and public health. Humans need green space and trees to survive.

Dr. Donovan is a Research Forester with the USDA Forest Service and has quantified a wide range of urban-tree benefits. These have ranged from intuitive benefits— for example, reduced summertime cooling costs—to less intuitive benefits such as crime reduction. More recently, he has focused on the relationship between trees and public health. He found that mothers with trees around their homes are less likely to have underweight babies, and when trees are killed by an invasive pest, more people die from cardiovascular and lower-respiratory disease. He has a number of ongoing projects including a collaboration with the women’s health initiative.

Partners:

Friends of TreesScott Fogarty

Legacy Health Therapeutic Gardens: Teresia Hazen

Lewis & Clark Graduate School Ecopsychology in Counseling Program: Thomas Doherty

Institute for Sustainable Solutions: Christina Williams

TKF Foundation: Mary Wyatt

ZGF Architects LLP: Karl Sonnenberg

J. Frank Schmidt Family Charitable Foundation: Nancy Buley

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Published by Thomas Doherty

Psychologist Thomas Doherty's work on environmental sustainability and health has been featured in publications like the New York Times and in talks worldwide. Thomas consults with individuals and organizations through his business Sustainable Self. He was the founding Director of the Ecopsychology Certificate Program at Lewis & Clark Graduate School and Founding Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed academic journal Ecopsychology. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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