Jane Rohde
Email: jane (at) jsrassociates.net
Jane holds a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. She has been interested in senior living throughout her entire career. Her thesis was based upon the Fuggerei, a 500 year old social community serving predominantly seniors in Augsburg, Germany. On a recent trip to Germany, she spent a day within the Fuggerei community walls and notes that it is still in use, providing an excellent example of true sustainability!
Jane has over 20 years of experience in programming, architecture, interior design, and operational consulting for senior living, residential, and healthcare projects. Jane is the former VP of Design for Erickson Retirement Communities, which, during her employ, developed Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) in Maryland and Michigan. From her experience working in development, she realized that there was a wide gap between operations and design. Under Jane’s direction the design department set out to close that gap by designing fully functioning spaces to better serve residents and staff.
This philosophy of “filling the gaps” as a premise of good design led to the establishment of JSR Associates, Inc., Jane being the founding principal. The practice focuses predominantly on senior living and healthcare consulting. The integration of healthcare models and operations with the designed environment is one of JSR’s criteria for achieving successful projects and positive resident outcomes. By staying up to date on current regulations, culture change and trends, technology, and research, Jane provides the knowledge required to improve the healing environment for her clients.
Jane is certified by American College of Healthcare Architects and the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers. She is NCIDQ and NCARB certified and is a LEED™ Accredited Professional. She works with the Green Building Initiative as a third party assessor for the Continual Improvement module of Green Globes. Jane has spoken internationally on healthcare, senior living, healing environments, product development for seniors, evidence based design, and the application of sustainable care models within healthcare and senior living settings.
Jane has volunteered for many different organizations to further research, sustainability, culture change guidelines, and promote care models that support Aging in Community. She sits on the Research Advisory Council (RAC), formerly the Coalition of Health Environments Research (CHER) Council, and the Environmental Standards Council; both subsidiaries of The Center for Health Design. Specific research focuses include Color in Healthcare Environments and Infection Control. Jane has presented nationally the diverse research completed by RAC, CHER, and The Center for Health Design. Jane was a juror for the AIA Design for Aging jury for the 8th Cycle and a contributing author and post-occupancy evaluator for Design for Aging Post-Occupancy Evaluations published by The American Institute of Architects’ AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community. Jane sits on the Health Guidelines Revision Committeefor the 2010 cycle of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities with a primary focus on Long Term Care, Environment of Care, and Surfaces and Furnishings sections. Jane is the group leader of the Materials and Resources subgroup for the development of the ASHRAE Standard 189.2 – Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Healthcare Buildings. She has also been working with the Green Building Initiative and a group of volunteers on a Senior Living Sustainability Guide for senior living projects. Jane was the Healthcare Forum Director and Vice President of Forums for the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). As VP she worked with the specialty forums to create a program called “A Day in the Life of Joe: Impact of Design on the Older Person.” This program was presented nationally and was the keynote presentation for a Conference on Aging in Seoul, Korea. In recognition of her volunteer work, the IIDA designated Jane a Fellow in their organization and awarded her their Distinguish Achievement Award. Jane also received the Nightingale Award for the design of an integrated booth at the Symposium on Healthcare Design (now the Healthcare Design) Conference. The booth provided vignettes of innovative rooms for a cognitively frail senior that included a resident room, family area, bathing area, outdoor area, and adjacent public space. Fourteen vendors provided product in cooperation with Mannington Commercial’s 400 square foot booth. Throughout the vignettes, different types of flooring were represented to demonstrate their applicable uses.
Jane is a lifetime Board Member for The Children’s Home in Catonsville, Maryland. She has been “Ma” to two young women, who became residents of The Children’s Home at the age of 13. They are both in their 30s and living in the Baltimore area. Jane is now a “Grand-Ma” to Lashay, who is Tyhesheia’s daughter. Jane has provided mentoring for youths participating in a mission group for the renovation of housing for the homeless, participated in Christmas in April programs in Maryland, and has participated in three “Blitz Builds” for Habitat for Humanity in Louisiana. One build included working with students from LSU, who designed, worked with the Habitat clients, and built their proposed design for a family living in Baton Rouge. Jane celebrated her 5th wedding anniversary with her husband, Patrick by holding a pirate costume party; following in the tradition of her masquerade ball wedding. She and her husband are avid sailors and both crewed and placed 2nd in Cape Cod’s Corsair Trimaran Nationals Regatta in August, 2008.