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Healthcare

If you’re in the market to furnish a medical waiting room, patient room or behavioral health facility, Stance Healthcare is your ticket to expertly crafted healthcare furniture in beautiful residential designs. Stance was founded as a healthcare furniture manufacturer, and it remains as such today, combining style and substance in a way that few other healthcare manufacturers have managed to do. Read on to learn why we at NBF consider Stance Healthcare to be one of our most unique brands.

 

BIFMA Level Certification

 

All of Stance Healthcare’s seating products have been Level certified to conform to the BIFMA e3 standard for furniture sustainability. What does this mean for you and your facility? Not only does Level certification indicate a high level of indoor air quality for medical patients, guests and care givers, but it also encompasses a broader range of sustainability aspects that include corporate and social responsibility, community outreach, health and safety, energy usage, raw material selection and overall environmental stewardship.

 

Learn more about Stance’s Level certification here.

 
Stance Healthcare
 

Dedication to Cleanliness and Safety

 

Not only are Stance Healthcare’s seating products Level certified, but the company has gone the extra mile to ensure that all of its products are healthy and safe for the individuals who are exposed to them. For example, did you know that flame retardants and antimicrobials commonly used on healthcare seating upholstery can actually be quite harmful to people after extended periods of exposure? These types of chemical coatings produce off-gasses that can cause results as extreme as cancer and birth defects over time, making them particularly harmful to healthcare providers and patients who visit healthcare facilities on a regular basis. Many hospitals are vowing to eliminate the purchasing of healthcare furniture with flame retardants, formaldehyde, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and antimicrobials in them, and Stance strives to provide furniture that is safer and emits substantially fewer chemicals.

 

Stance Healthcare upholsters its seating in polyurethane (PU) rather than PVC-based faux leather to provide a more environmentally friendly option for medical facilities that contain a significantly lower level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). PU is Phthalate free, Bisphenol A free, lead and heavy metal free, energy efficient and water efficient. Plus, 99% of all water and raw material used in the production of these furnishings is reclaimed and recycled. If that’s not putting health and safety at the forefront of every design, we don’t know what is!

 
Stance Healthcare
 

Simply Stylish

 

Everything that Stance Healthcare makes is manufactured in Canada and designed to create a residential look in a medical environment. From the sleek Vista II and Oasis collections for waiting rooms to the chic Cassia and Onward collections for behavioral health, good, better and best options are always available so that customers will have plenty to choose from. Stance Healthcare’s vast selection of luxurious furnishings will allow you to create a place of healing that will help your patients feel a little more at ease, all while keeping the space clean and safe.

 
Stance Healthcare
 

Looking for healthcare furniture that works? Call our furniture experts today at (800) 558-1010 or peruse our full selection of Stance Healthcare furniture here.

More From NBF

The Complete Guide to Healthcare Seating Textiles

Whether you’re furnishing a new healthcare facility or replacing old furniture in a hospital or private practice, knowing your textiles is crucial to the well-being of staff and patients alike. To help make your purchasing experience as easy as possible, we’re breaking down the pros and cons of commonly used seating textiles. This list is ranked from worst to best in terms of appropriateness for a healthcare setting.

Fabric

Fabric is a woven textile that is not considered appropriate for healthcare settings. The major benefit of fabric is aesthetic: it comes in many color and pattern options. 

Although the appearance of fabric creates a welcoming, homey aesthetic that most medical facilities seek, the good far outweighs the bad in the case of this material. Because fabric is woven, it is porous—fluids can seep into the chair easily and become nearly impossible to remove. This creates an infection control nightmare as fabric will likely harbor bacteria and bedbugs. 

In addition to the health hazards associated with this textile, fabric is not durable enough to withstand regular use in a busy healthcare facility.

Benefits

  • Unlimited color and pattern choices

  • Welcoming, homelike aesthetic

Challenges

  • Porous

  • Not very cleanable or durable

  • Harbors bedbugs and bacteria

Crypton Fabric

Crypton fabric is specially manufactured with a fluid-resistant backing that makes it more like vinyl than the fabrics it so closely resembles. This textile has the same large range of color and pattern options as fabrics, but it’s much more acceptable for a healthcare setting as fluids cannot seep into the chair as they can with fabric. However, this material is still semipermeable and can hold unwanted odors. 

Crypton requires specific cleaners for regular maintenance, as it can degrade quickly if cleaned improperly, so staff must be well-trained on the correct cleaner to use on this material. This textile can also be expensive and is not the most durable option. Due to this, Crypton is often used on the backs of chairs in low-abuse settings such as private practices and senior living centers.

Benefits

 

  • Same range of color and pattern options as fabric

  • Fluid-resistant backing is healthier than fabric options

  • Good choice for chair backrests that receive less wear

Challenges

  • Semipermeable

  • Requires special cleaners and can degrade quickly if cleaned improperly

  • Expensive

  • Can hold odors

PVC-Free Vinyl

PVC-free vinyl is an impermeable and eco-friendly textile ideal for inpatient and acute care facilities. Because it’s PVC-free, this material emits no off-gas, making it a great choice where indoor air quality is a concern. In addition, this textile has a soft, comfortable feel. Unfortunately, the color palette is limited. Though relatively easy to clean, PVC-free vinyl is fragile and can degrade quickly and pucker if not maintained correctly.

Benefits

  • Impermeable

  • Emits no off-gas and is great for indoor air quality

  • Soft, comfortable feel

Challenges

  • Fragile and will degrade quickly if not properly cared for

  • Can pucker

  • Limited aesthetically—only solid colors are available

Vinyl

Like PVC-free vinyl, regular vinyl is commonly used in inpatient and acute care facilities, including typical hospital settings. Vinyl is also impermeable and Greenguard Certified for better indoor air quality, but this material is much more durable and easy to maintain. 

You should note that over-bleaching can lead to the breakdown of plasticizers (the additive used to make vinyl soft and pliable), and the stripping of plasticizers can lead to cracking and ripping that The Joint Commission will quickly write up as a violation. On the plus side, vinyl is available in a much wider range of colors and patterns than PVC-free vinyl. Bedbugs and bacteria contamination are less of a concern with this textile, though these may still thrive in the seams of the material.

Benefits

  • Impermeable

  • Greenguard Certified for better indoor air quality

  • Many patterns and colors available

  • Durable with good light resistance

  • Easy to clean (though this varies depending on manufacturer)

Challenges

  • Can degrade if over-bleached

  • Seams can harbor bedbugs and bacteria

IC+

Ideal for emergency departments, IC+ is the top-of-the-line choice for high-traffic hospitals that require the very best in durability and cleanliness. Healthcentric is the only company that manufactures IC+. The treatment is applied via a spraying technique rather than sewn. As a result, IC+ has no seams for bacteria and bedbugs to thrive in, making it the best choice to prevent the spread of infection. 

This material is also 10 times stronger than vinyl, completely impermeable, does not degrade, and has a very high abuse rate, making it ideal for busy emergency rooms that see patients with a vast range of ailments. Not only will this material not rip or crack, but it’s also safe to clean even with harsh bleaches. 

IC+ is truly the best option available for healthcare facilities, but it is worth noting that color options are limited, and this material is not the most comfortable for patients due to its durable build.

Benefits

  • 10 times stronger than vinyl

  • Does not degrade

  • Seamless design does not harbor bedbugs or bacteria

  • Highest abuse rate

  • Easy to clean

Challenges

  • Not the most comfortable

  • Very limited color palette

The Complete Guide to Healthcare Recliners

If your medical facility is looking to purchase new recliners, you may be overwhelmed by the options. How are you supposed to know the difference from one to the next? This guide is a great starting point.

Treatment Recliners

Treatment recliners have a simple, functional design and are meant to be used for short periods during exams or clinical use. This type of chair is often used for dialysis, oncology, and geriatric situations where the patient will not need to be seated in the chair for more than a couple of hours. Treatment recliners are the most basic form of healthcare recliner and are designed for function above style.

Senior Living and Long-Term Care Recliners

Long-term care recliners are designed for senior living and nursing homes. They feature a more residential look than treatment recliners and usually include rocking or gliding functionality. These seating options are typically smaller than most healthcare recliners, making it easier for senior citizens to get out of the seat. These recliners typically have limited customizable features, so what you see is what you get.

 

Patient Room Recliners

Patient room recliners are made with commercial-grade durability and are heavy-duty for continuous use. Most include replaceable parts so that if a backrest, seat, or other portion of the chair breaks or tears, you can simply replace that one part rather than having to purchase a completely new recliner.

 

When it comes to customization, patient room recliners have plenty to choose from. You can choose how you want the chair to recline, how mobile you want it to be, and what accessories you need. Common recliner accessories include footrests and IV holders. There are even patient room recliners with heated seats. Drop and fold-down transfer arm options are also available for patients who need to be transferred from a wheelchair. 

When it comes to transportation of the unit, you can choose from small wheels that are good simply for moving the unit out of the way for cleaning or bigger wheels for actually moving patients from place to place in the recliners.

Specialty Recliners

Specialty recliners come in a wide variety and are designed for very specific purposes.

 

Trendelenburg recliners are used when a patient’s position needs to be moved to a negative recline as quickly as possible. For example, if a patient were to pass out while in the recliner, the Trendelenburg tilt allows caregivers to tilt the bed backward to keep the patient’s feet higher than the head.

Bariatric recliners can support 750 pounds or more. Ideal for larger patients, these recliners have much wider seats than standard options and limited recline for the safety of both the user and caregivers.

Pediatric recliners are designed to accommodate children comfortably. As you might expect, this type of recliner is typically built smaller than average for use in the children’s wing. Many options are equipped to support gaming systems so that the patient can stay busy during what may otherwise be an uncomfortable or even frightening visit to the doctor.

 

Crossing Rivers Health

Explore the offices of Crossing Rivers Health by downloading the case study PDF here.

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Nicole Groshek

Nicole Groshek is the social media and content coordinator for National Business Furniture. She helps employees discover the true joy in loving what they do, from working in an inspiring office to having a little fun on the job.