Around the globe, human-centered design principles are being trained on inherently messy end-of-life challenges. Recently, two foundations – the Lien Foundation and the ACM Foundation – commissioned a healthcare design consultancy called fuelfor to re-envision inpatient hospice care in Singapore.

The resulting report, Hospitable Hospice – Redesigning Care for Tomorrow, generously shares 7 design concepts and 24 experience design principles that can spark action whether you are in Singapore, Philadelphia or Rwanda (Note: Rwanda was the first country in Africa to implement a stand-alone national palliative care policy – see this article in ehospice.com).

At the core of the vision is returning the dying process to everyday life by developing porous hospices – what they call Care Central - that become integral parts of neighborhoods alongside schools, religious institutions, stores and homes. But even more than the physical environment, the authors recognize the central role of human interactions in the dying process. As such they see volunteerism as playing a greatly expanded role in the hospice of tomorrow. Volunteers become emissaries who can cross boundaries and open up conversations about death and dying across the lifespan and throughout communities.

With offices in Barcelona and Singapore, fuelfor healthcare design and consulting brings design thinking to healthcare entities, governments, communities and individuals.

The Action Mill team is honored that My Gift of Grace is included as an exemplar in the Inspirational Book that is appended to the main Hospitable Hospice report.