Carefinding®
Wayfinding reimagined as healthcare infrastructure
INTRODUCTION TO CAREFINDING®
Carefinding® is a strategic, systems-based wayfinding approach that helps healthcare organizations deliver better access, reduce stress, and improve performance across the patient journey.
Carefinding® goes beyond conventional wayfinding by embedding navigation into the daily operations, planning processes, and long-term strategies of healthcare organizations. Developed in partnership with hospitals and clinical leaders, it ensures navigation systems evolve alongside services, support inclusion at every touchpoint, and align with both patient needs and organizational goals. This is systems thinking applied to care.
Why it matters
Hospitals care for diverse, often vulnerable populations. Many patients and visitors arrive under stress, with limited physical or emotional capacity. When people get lost, care is delayed, anxiety rises, and operations suffer.
Patient Experience
Reduces stress and anxiety by helping people navigate unfamiliar environments with confidence, which improves satisfaction and trust in care.
Operational Efficiency
Limits missed appointments and reduces the burden on staff who are often called away to give directions, allowing teams to focus on clinical responsibilities.
Inclusion
Creates navigation systems that serve people of all abilities, languages, identities, and backgrounds, ensuring equitable access to care.
System Sustainability
Provides a scalable framework that can adapt to ongoing changes without requiring repeated reinvention or costly system overhauls.
THE CAREFINDING APPROACH
Carefinding® embeds wayfinding into operational infrastructure and aligns with strategic priorities across healthcare environments.
Governance
Builds structured oversight through leadership-backed roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships. Cross-functional teams manage the wayfinding system with consistency and accountability.
Quality Improvement
Defines clear performance metrics and establishes tools to measure, test, and refine the system over time.
Design
Delivers integrated solutions that align signage, digital tools, spatial cues, and people into a cohesive navigation experience. Solutions are grounded in service design, operational strategy, and co-design with users.
Spotlight
Foothills Medical Centre
Foothills Medical Centre is Alberta’s largest and most complex hospital site. Since 2017, Cygnus has worked in long-term partnership with Alberta Health Services to embed Carefinding® across the campus. Through collaborative governance, strategic planning, and patient-informed design, the approach has supported wayfinding improvements that align with operations, enhance patient experience, and evolve alongside the site’s ongoing growth.
From signage systems and mapping to the creation of the Foothills Trail, Carefinding® has transformed navigation into an integrated part of healthcare delivery.
Testimonials
We have benefited greatly from the collaboration with Cygnus as our industry partner in this work. Recognizing that how people find their way is part of the care we provide rather than something that happens before and after we meet them is now fundamental to our approach.
Michael Suddes
Site Director, Foothills Medical Centre
Carefinding® Leadership
Connect with us
As Principal, Lindsay provides strategic guidance to clients navigating complexity in healthcare and public environments. He leads with purpose, aligning long-term vision with actionable strategies that support organizational goals and human experience. With more than 25 years of experience in research, design strategy, and planning, Lindsay brings deep insight into systems thinking and service design. His leadership helped shape Carefinding® in redefining wayfinding as an essential part of the care experience. Curious and future-focused, Lindsay is committed to advancing practice and creating meaningful, measurable change across the spaces that matter most.