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Healthcare

Emphasizing Patient Experience

While versatility is a plus in almost any commercial setting, few areas call for a wider range of furnishings, combined with some very specialized pieces, than the medical field. From patient and visitor waiting areas to examination and hospital rooms, there’s a huge variety of options to improve the patient experience.

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember medical facilities that were drab and institutional in décor. Now you’ll see spaces with furnishings that might look right at home in an upscale hotel, with prominent colors and sleek designs. Again, that’s not unique to health care, but furniture in a wellness setting often has additional roles to play.

With the exception of maternity, few people visit medical facilities by choice. Stress levels can be high for patients and visitors alike, and the furnishings and décor should support a holistic sense of calm and wellbeing. You’ll see that trend in action from single-doctor practices to hospital waiting areas to senior living facilities.

Emphasizing Waiting Spaces

Like furniture in other waiting spaces, you’re more and more likely to find chairs in waiting areas equipped with power outlets and/or USB ports, or armrests that convert to tabletops to assist with getting work done while waiting. As in an office setting, flexibility is desirable. For example, a well-designed waiting area might have pods of seating to accommodate families as well as individual areas to allow more privacy.

Beyond design that supports the user in difficult times, furnishings in a medical setting often have very specific technical requirements in terms of clinical performance. Some lines come with specialty fabrics that meet Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) protocols, reducing the spread of germs. Others may have tamper-proof seams to control not only bacteria, but the concealment of contraband smuggled into hospital settings.

The furnishings themselves can fill a variety of specialty roles, from recliners designed for patient comfort to height-adjustable tables that accommodate wheelchair-bound users. In a delivery suite, a compact loveseat might convert to a bed, allowing overnight comfort for a waiting partner.

In the end, patient-centered design promotes not only comfort but accessibility and dignity through experiences that are often difficult. That can be critical to better outcomes for patients, and to better experiences for those sharing the journey with them.

Questions about how to emphasize patient experience? Contact Douron.

Diabetes Awareness Month: GBMC Padonia

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, with a focus this year on prediabetes. According to the CDC, more than 1 in 3 adults in the United States is prediabetic. That’s 88 million people, and many are not aware of their condition.

The good news is that managing prediabetes, and preventing it from becoming diabetes, can be accomplished with a series of small diet and lifestyle changes that add up to a healthier you. Things like choosing water instead of sweetened drinks, or walking more, can make big changes in your overall health. And be sure to stay vaccinated, not only against COVID-19 but against seasonal flu as well. Diabetes is a risk factor for both.

It’s an appropriate time, then, to celebrate one of our clients in the medical field: The new GBMC Health Partners Primary and Specialty Care facility at York and Padonia Roads in Timonium, MD. It’s a 14,000 square-foot space offering advance primary care, gynecology, orthopedics, physical therapy and more.

GBMC Padonia Interior

We would normally share photos of the comfortable furniture we provided in one or more waiting rooms for a medical facility like this, but the new GBMC facility doesn’t have any. Patients go directly to their exam room after checking, offering both a streamlined process and a safer environment.

And in keeping with the preventative advice on prediabetes, the team at GBMC Health Partners takes a proactive approach to patient care, regularly reviewing data to make sure all health screenings are up to date and contacting patients if something needs to be addressed.

Douron was able to provide workstations, tables and seating on the second floor for GBMC Padonia’s billing practice. We’re proud to be associated with this beautiful, patient-focused new facility.

Check out other healthcare projects that Douron has had the pleasure of completing, such as the John’s Hopkins Bayview Campus.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Carroll Regional Cancer Center

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and while it’s always an important time for awareness-raising, this year brings a bit more urgency.

As with so many parts of our lives, the pandemic caused significant setbacks in the rates of screening and early detection, both vital parts of the fight against breast cancer. While the long-term result of that situation is still unknown, it’s safe to say that there will be a greater need in the coming months and years.

We encourage you to join in both raising awareness (by wearing pink, especially on Real Kids Wear Pink Day, Friday, October 22nd) and by donating to any number of related charities to support low- or no-cost mammograms for those who need them, among many other efforts.

We’d also like to highlight the important work of the William E. Kahlert Regional Cancer Center in Carroll County, Maryland. Located in on the Carroll Hospital campus in Westminster, the Kahlert Center is a program of LifeBridge Health’s Sinai Hospital.

William E. Kahlert Regional Cancer Center Lobby Area

The Kahlert Center is accredited by the Commission on Cancer as a Comprehensive Community Cancer Program, providing outpatients with a full spectrum of cancer care services from diagnosis to support services and other resources including nutrition counseling and support groups.

Specific to this month’s theme, The Center for Breast Health at Kahlert provides centralized resources and fully integrative care to meet each individual’s need. This goes well beyond medical care to their Wellness Boutique and Studio YOU, offering prostheses, wigs, hats and more. And the Tevis Center for Wellness features supportive therapies ranging from massage to acupuncture to reiki, to help manage pain and ease anxiety.

We’re proud to have the Douron Team involved in our Think Pink campaign in October, and will be putting together Cancer Care Packages for donation to the William E. Kahlert Regional Cancer Center.

More than 280,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected diagnosed in women in 2021, with nearly 50,000 additional non-invasive cases. However you choose to do so, we hope you’ll find ways to support this vital cause in this important month.

Suicide Prevention: #Bethe1To

The effects of the pandemic on our overall mental health have been well documented, and as we enter September, National Suicide Prevention Month, there’s good cause to take a closer look.

Surprisingly, suicides decreased by six percent nationally in 2020 (source: Healthline). This runs counter to well-documented increases in nearly every other mental health category as we were all challenged by increased isolation. The prevailing theory around the decrease is that despite our physical separation, watershed events like the COVID-19 pandemic often result in an increase in our overall sense of community.

Not all the news is good, however. The CDC reports that from mid-2020 through early 2021, emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts among teens, especially girls, showed a sharp increase. In February and March of 2021, the incidence of those visits was more than 50% higher than for the same period two years prior. Clearly, the pandemic has taken a toll on our teens.

The National Suicide Prevention Month website asks us all to #Bethe1To:

Ask. People with suicidal thoughts feel relief when someone asks after them in a caring way.

Be there. People are likely to feel less depressed and isolated when someone listens to them without judgment.

Keep them safe. A simple but effective means for reducing suicides is to remove weapons and other possible lethal means.

Help them stay connected. Helping someone at risk to create a network of individuals to support them can encourage them to take positive action.

Follow up. Studies demonstrate that supportive, ongoing contact following an individual’s release from care can make a difference in suicide prevention.

By being alert to the mental health of those around you, and especially teens, you can make a difference.

Social Wellness Month: Ashburn Senior Center

July is Social Wellness Month, a time for focus on the relationships that keep us emotionally healthy, and increased awareness of the power of social healing to contribute to our happiness and well-being.

Social wellness is often a challenge for our senior population as reduced mobility makes it more difficult to be with family and friends on a regular basis. And of course this was greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its enforced isolation –for all of us, but especially for seniors.

That’s why we’re so excited to have been involved in a fantastic project for seniors, which coincided perfectly with both the end of the pandemic and with Social Wellness Month.

Ashburn Senior Center Interior

The Ashburn Senior Center in Loudoun County, Virginia opened on June 17th, 2021. This spectacular, 15,000-square-foot facility is ADA accessible and provides administrative and program space for those 55 and older as well as staff and volunteers. The project will also be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, demonstrating an eco-friendly design that meets the environmental needs of its community.

The Ashburn Center features an amazing array of resources including an art room, exercise and activity center, conference rooms, classrooms, computer lab, a commercial kitchen … even pool tables, a pottery kiln and pickleball. And while we were involved in much of the interior design and fit-out from the reception area to the conference rooms and classrooms, the center doesn’t stop there … many of the interior areas are designed to flow into the surrounding five-acre property and take advantage of the natural surroundings.

We’re so happy to have been a part of the creation of this amazing new facility with Grimm and Parker, and even more gratified that it answers a need for Loudoun County’s senior population … and just in time for Social Wellness Month.

Question about commercial interior design or furnishings? Contact Douron.

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