KI Furniture Helps Medical center

Reported by eFurniture for Office Furniture & Design on 2/10/2010

GREEN BAY, WI (Feb 2010) – Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, WA., recently completed a $7.8 million expansion to its River Pavilion that houses the new Don & Lori Watts Pediatric Center. The new children’s department offers a higher level of care to pediatric patients, allowing local children who have cancer to receive treatment locally, instead of having to travel. Following research into best practices in children’s hospital design and patient-centered care, Curtis Group Architects LTD (Dallas, TX) chose furniture from KI to help create a welcoming and comforting environment for sick children and their families.

The 25,000-square-foot pediatric department expands the hospital’s capacity to treat children from 8 semi-private rooms to 20 private rooms. Each of the private rooms feature a KI Daybed Sofa Sleeper that pulls out into a bed, allowing parents to stay comfortably with their children in the hospital. All rooms feature a soothing underwater theme designed to help lessen the fear and anxiety associated with visiting a hospital.

“We are amazed by the amount of creativity and imagination that was poured into the creation of this facility,” said Don Thornton, Director of Plant Operations, Kadlec Regional Medical Center. “The furniture that fills its hallways, patient rooms and waiting areas complement the relaxing surroundings and offer an added element of comfort for the families who need it most.”

Contributing to the relaxing atmosphere of the children’s floor is a private family room with kitchen and dining facilities. Inside, KI’s Soltice Lounge Furniture adds to the room’s resort style atmosphere with a modern design where parents, siblings and relatives can gather for family time.

The fifth floor children’s department features a fifteen foot curved, 800-gallon saltwater fish tank in the lobby and a welcoming waiting room with fireplace. Each of the patient rooms are uniquely named after a sea creature and feature a hand-painted story about the animal on the inside wall of the room. Throughout the facility, the floors feature sea creatures cut out and inlaid in the linoleum.

“We designed the patient rooms with one thing in mind—putting the children and families at ease during their stay,” said Jennifer Hodges, Interior Designer, Curtis Group Architects LTD. “The concept behind the ‘Under the Sea’ theme was to create a healing, fun and educational environment for children ranging from infant to eighteen years of age and their families. KI’s healthcare furniture and expertise helped us create an environment that enables family members to be an integral part of the healing process.”

The free-flowing concept of the nurse stations enhances the ‘Under the Sea’ look, including the design and colors of the KI Impress chairs and KI Torsion on the Go that emphasize the theme and comfort of the space. Video-conferencing equipment was also installed to help local doctors and nurses stay in daily contact with pediatric specialists at Seattle Children’s Hospital, with which Kadlec has a partnership.

2010 FGI Guidelines for Healthcare Acoustics

Kenric Van Wyk | acousticsbydesign.com | Healthcare | January 18th, 2010

The 2010 FGI (Facility Guidelines Institute) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities was published this month and adopted as building code by most states. The new guidelines are the culmination of over five years of collaborative work by researchers, architects, engineers, and acoustical consultants to solve the problems of speech privacy and excessive noise in hospitals. The guidelines are effective immediately for the design of all healthcare facilities. For perspective, consider the 2006 Guidelines which mandated single patient rooms in hospitals. As a result, single patient rooms are the absolute standard in healthcare design today. This was an overnight seismic shift in policy that affected all healthcare building projects. Well, the 2010 Guidelines are no different in their sweeping reforms, addressing a whole new dimension of healthcare design, namely: acoustics, noise, and HIPAA speech privacy laws.

Controlling sound in a healthcare facility is, of course, not as easy as turning down a big knob on the wall. Sound and vibration in a healthcare setting comes from a variety of locations and is a systematic problem. According to JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) excessive noise raises blood pressure, extends patient stays, and can be a safety concern. Thus, for a solution to be effective, it must be holistic and comprehensive. The acoustical portion of the guideline is extensive and covers a wide range of issues including exterior noise to the community, internal noise isolation of patient rooms, speech privacy of your medical information, and vibration isolation for mechanical equipment.

The new 2010 FGI Guidelines, published in conjunction with the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association (AHA), is the kind of reform that is really needed to promote good healthcare today. Your conversations with your doctor about your sensitive medical condition will remain confidential. Sleeping in your hospital bed will be relaxing and comfortable – a respite from the typical noisy patient room