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Opened last April, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, MA, is the result of careful planning and exhaustive research that placed the needs of disabled patients at the center of the design experience. “I recall arranging for architects to spend a day in the old hospital using manual wheelchairs,” explains Betsy Pillsbury, disability resources coordinator. “It was an invaluable exercise that helped them to better understand the challenges patients face on a daily basis.”
The result is a facility that, according to Paula Hereau, vice president of operations, “…moves beyond compliance with the accommodation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. So it’s not just about making it okay for handicapped people to use the facility, but making it easy and open for anyone to use it.”
Like so many other finishes in the 262,000-square-foot facility, floor coverings were carefully selected. “When we were choosing flooring for the hospital, we were looking to accomplish many things,” Hereau continues. “Certainly we wanted a low-emission product. We wanted it to be a quiet product, but were also very interested in sustainability…a product that would last for a very long time. We wanted something that felt comfortable to walk on, and in fact, it seems we were able to accomplish that with the nora product we chose.”
“The floors in this building are very smooth and not slippery, which is very important for people using a cane or a crutch,” adds Pillsbury. “Also, the pattern on the floor is designed around therapy, so that a therapist can actually see how far a patient has walked.”
Members of the housekeeping staff also appreciate the benefits of the resilient norament® grano floor covering. “They are on the floor pretty much all day long on their feet,” notes David Cohen, director of environmental services. “The nora flooring has a little bit of give to it. It makes it easier for staff and a little bit more ergonomically friendly for them to be on their feet and be moving around all day on a surface that has a little bit more of a comfort factor to it.
“Also, the nora flooring doesn’t require the use of harsh chemicals, strippers, floor finishes and really caustic materials that have been used in the past on traditional types of flooring…Most of this flooring has proven to be relatively maintenance free, aside from daily mopping and an occasional scrub.”
Cohen adds, “This, in turn, saves us time and makes us more efficient as a department, allowing us to focus on other things in the hospital that need our attention. At the same time, we’re realizing some cost savings by eliminating the floor strippers and finishes that we used on our older VCT floors.”
