Distinguish Yourself

Enhance your professional credibility by earning the CHID credential. Fall 2019 application deadline is July 15, 2019. Apply today!

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Recognizing excellence, commitment, and knowledge

Whether you’re a healthcare interior designer looking to boost your professional credibility and help advance the field; or someone looking for a highly qualified healthcare interior designer to join your team, you’ve come to the right place. AAHID’s Certified Healthcare Interior Designer (CHID) credential recognizes excellence, commitment, and knowledge of this complex discipline.

Committed to creating the best environments for healthcare delivery, Certified Healthcare Interior Designers are the most qualified to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of patients, residents, and staff in hospitals, clinics, and residential care facilities.

Become a CHID

Find out how this credential sets you apart.

Why hire a CHID?

Search our directory of qualified healthcare interior designers.

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We value partners who transform the healthcare environment into one for healing, improving outcomes and maximizing efficiency.

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“My passion for healthcare design has led me to AAHID, and I felt that its mission is in line with my career path and I had to be a part of it. So I completed the required credentials by obtaining the NCIDQ certification in 2011, and passed the CHID exam in the spring of 2013. Although I am passionate about residential and commercial design projects, I believe that my true calling is in healthcare design; Creating healing environments that promote safe mobility and independence to patients give me true satisfaction, knowing that I am making a difference in someone’s life by improving their living spaces”.

Ghina Itani

CHID, ASID, EDAC
“Lilliana was a savior for our latest project in Atlanta. Our company had been struggling for years with all aspects of the interior design of our communities. She joined our team late in the process with construction well underway. Lilliana immediately went into action and pulled together all aspects of the design including flooring, wall coverings, art, proper painting and accent colors as well as accessories and icons which are so crucial in the daily care and well being of our residents. Most importantly she made sure we did not continue to make the same mistakes of the past. Everyone who has seen our Atlanta community is frankly in awe of the design. I would give Lilliana my highest recommendation.

Kevin A. DiBona
Chairman & CEO, The Memory Center

Lilliana’s attention to detail is outstanding. She carefully researched the impact of color on healing in psychiatric settings and chose color schemes that were truly transformative. She designed homelike features such as “integrated beds” that mimic a sleigh bed for patient comfort. She creatively used millwork for shelving in patient rooms, for flexible and durable entertainment centers, and in creating seating arrangements for maximum comfort and privacy. As part of her work on the above projects, Lilliana researched furniture specifications for psychiatric facilities to help us select products that are safe, durable and comfortable.”

Gerri Cote, LICSW
Vice President of Operations, Brattleboro Retreat

“Lilliana took the time initially to truly understand our vision of what we wanted the patient experience to be, and how we hoped they, their friends and family, would “feel” as they are in our facility. Our ultimate hope was that our hospital did not have an institutional feel. We stated we wanted the unit to feel like a high-end hotel that just happened to provide medical care, without spending a fortune to do it. According to our own assessment, and the evidence collected through both anecdote and responses from our formal patient satisfaction surveys, we’ve accomplished this goal, in no small way thanks to Lilliana’s execution of our vision. She succeeded in using natural tones and materials, and a neutral palette to allow the space to remain contemporary while “fitting” with the rural elements of our community.”

Michael D. Peterson, FACHE
Chief Administrative Officer, Sebasticook Valley Health

“Lilliana develops interior design plans working closely with the deign team, and does a great job listening to, educating, and incorporating staff and end user suggestions into a comprehensive design ideally suited for the function of the space. In addition, she has been able to successfully balance our request to incorporate organization standards while creating exciting, vibrant, healing environments for our patients. Lilliana’s collaborative and open design process, coupled with her experience and level of research has produced excellent healing environments within our organization. Patients, visitors and staff have overwhelmingly offered positive comments on our newly renovated spaces.”

Domenic J. Ciavarro
Vice President of Facilities, Concord Hospital

Lilliana Alvarado

CHID, EDAC, IIDA, NCIDQ, LEED AP
I chose to pursue the CHID credential as validation to myself that I, indeed, was a seasoned healthcare designer. I also wanted a way to show my commitment to the profession and support towards raising the bar for interior design.

The accolade CHID has, in one word, indicated to my peers, employers, clients, other design profession partners, and the industry, that I have earned the highest level of achievement for an interior designer practicing in the field of healthcare design. Through my volunteer role on the AAHID Board of Directors as Director-at-large, President-elect, and now, President, I have developed leadership skills that I use daily in my professional and personal life. I have grown in more ways than I ever could have imagined when I first made the decision to apply for the CHID exam.

Becoming a CHID is an investment in yourself and allows you to become part of an inclusive group dedicated to shaping the future of healthcare interior design. The credential also gives you the opportunity to volunteer with AAHID and join other interior designers who are as passionate and dedicated to our profession as you!

Rebecca Brennan

CHID, RID, CID, IIDA, EDAC, LEED AP