Jacob's Story

For All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, CAMA facilitated visioning sessions with groups of children. Seven-year-old Jacob was one participant who left a lasting impression.  On a large drawing pad we divided a page into two columns, one topped with a happy face and the other a sad face. Children described hospital experiences, and we captured their examples in the respective category. When Jacob yelled out, "needles!", we instinctively reached for the sad face, but he corrected us. Needles, he explained, make him better, and thus belonged under the happy face. 

When Jacob yelled out, "needles!", we instinctively reached for the sad face but he corrected us...

Wow! We were blown away by this young child’s perspective. Yes, needles are an inescapable reality for most patients, but through better design we have the ability to mitigate feelings of pain through positive distractions. Jacob’s story will forever inspire our work, as well as others.  

Interior Design Educators Council President, Lisa Waxman kindly thanked Rosalyn Cama for her keynote presentation and for sharing Jacob’s story.  She writes, 

“Thank you for the wonderful keynote you gave at the Interior Design Educators Conference last week. As you know this was IDEC’s 50th anniversary and we asked our keynotes to focus on the future of interior design. Your lecture was simply fantastic! Your ability to make it human by encouraging us to “find our own Jacob” helped remind us of why well designed environments matter so much. The weaving of evidence-based design with beauty and spirituality covered so many critical areas of interior design, including many that are less tangible but essential to wellbeing…I overheard many of our members talking about your lecture throughout the conference. Your message really resonated with them.”