Blog

Suzanne:

• How long have you been with Stance? What inspired you to join Stance’s design team? I’ve been with Stance for 4 years. I was drawn to the idea of a small company with a specialized focus on Behavioral Health, and appreciated how they apply research to design through a deep understanding of the patient/end-user experience. 
   
• Tell us about one Stance product you’re proud of and the story behind its design. The Resilia drum table is a great example of a product that was truly born out of an observed need. About 10 years ago, I began noticing that laminate, a popular surface material for healthcare tables, tended to chip with wear causing “pick points”– which becomes a safety issue as well as a maintenance problem in Behavioral Health settings specifically. Literally with one strip of laminate pulled off, a weapon could be made. I pitched the idea to Stance and very quickly worked with Bruce Kennedy of Stance to design Resilia, which is covered in a highly durable material that withstands use and tampering, and is typically used as a flooring material for high-traffic areas. It is truly a game-changer for the occasional tables category, working well and lasting significantly longer than most other products used in any healthcare setting. 
   
• As a designer, where do you draw inspiration from? I am always observing and experiencing the good and bad of the patient/user experience. Oftentimes, noticing what isn’t working inspires me to imagine new ways products and settings can be made better and improve the experience for patients, care providers, and visitors. I’m also inspired by nature and how it is innate to our human source of peace and strength. 
   
• What are three words to describe your design approach for any healthcare setting? Comfort, confidence and clarity 
   
• From your perspective, what sets Stance’s designs apart from competitor products? The proven durability of our products, and our overall quality – how rare it is for there to be problems after installation. Also, the comfort they truly care about providing through their seating product. 
   
• How do you see healthcare design evolving in the next decade? I think we will continue to see more personalized experiences, including a variety of “space within space”, particularly the wait settings; always considering the needs of an individual's moment. For example, a continued mix of gathering space, consultative and spaces of reflection and counsel. My hope is that perimeter seating will not be the typical layout. 
   
• What are you excited to do next with Stance? We have a new lounge group for Behavioral Health that will be coming out soon. My hope is that it will provide comfort in ways that are not typically provided. Stay tuned!

Cesar:

• How long have you been with Stance? What inspired you to join Stance’s design team? I have been with Stance for just over a year now but have known a number of the team members for most of my career. That provided me with insight into the incredible work culture here and I also valued that the company shared a focused vision on improving the physical healthcare space and experience.
   
• Tell us about one Stance product you’re proud of and the story behind its design. There are a number of new products I’m working on that I’m very excited about but have really enjoyed participating in expanding our roto-molded furniture offerings. Working with monolithic forms allows us to create products that are ideally suited for behavioural health environments while at the same time challenging our design abilities to sculpt pieces that are attractive and comfortable.
   
• As a designer, where do you draw inspiration from? I think part of what keeps the juices going is being able to find inspiration just about anywhere. Whether it’s other furniture markets, the transportation industry, architecture or of course nature, there’s just so much opportunity to find that new material or design element that can cross-over into the healthcare space.
   
• What are three words to describe your design approach for any healthcare setting? Has to be Patient, Family and Caregiver. Have to understand how all three will interact with the pieces we design to provide the best overall experience and outcomes.
   
• From your perspective, what sets Stance’s designs apart from competitor products? There has always been a strong commitment to developing robust products that are built to last. We are continuing to build on that same core focus plus push the design envelope even more with products that contribute to the overall emotional experience of a space, just as much as they do in their performance.
   
• How do you see healthcare design evolving in the next decade? This past year has really provided some insights into some of the immediate opportunities for change, like designing more flexibility into how spaces and products are used, the need for products to hold up to more stringent cleaning protocols and the importance of using outdoor space in the healing experience. Technology, like in most industries, is forcing rapid change and it will be interesting to see what opportunities come from the surging trend of virtual healthcare.
   
• What are you excited to do next with Stance? Well, for starters, I’m really looking forward to working with the full Stance team once we are all in our “better” normal. We have further strengthened our manufacturing and design capabilities recently and I am excited about the new product opportunities that will bring us. All in all – just excited to be on this journey and making a difference!

Ideal for today’s patient-centered healthcare environments, Jensen series merges pleasing aesthetics with comfort, function, cleanability, and durability

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Stance Healthcare, a furniture designer and manufacturer specializing in general healthcare and Behavioral Health settings, announces two new collections: the Jensen Guest Seating collection and Jensen Lounge collection, both available as of March 1. Thoughtfully designed for today’s modern healthcare facilities, Jensen is comfortable, easy-to-clean and blends stylish design with the strength of metal.

The new lines support Stance’s signature design philosophy, which aims to improve the healthcare experience for patients, visitors, and care providers through comfortable, beautiful, long-lasting and easy-to-clean products. The Jensen Lounge Seating collection contrasts the status quo standards for traditional healthcare seating – which are often difficult to clean and maintain and uncomfortable – by providing both a high level of style and cleanability. A new genre of healthcare lounge seating, Jensen delivers a unique offering in the marketplace with its open arms, replaceable seat and back cushions, replaceable arm caps, and wall-saver frame design that protects walls against damage, all of which make the series easy to clean and refresh with new components if necessary.
 

Compatible with the lounge seating is Jensen’s Guest Seating collection, which provides an extensive choice of seating, bench seating, and occasional tables for healthcare facilities. The collection’s broad offering allows facilities to maintain a consistent aesthetic, while meeting the design and cleanability requirements for different healthcare spaces.

“Unlike the typical healthcare seating options that come to mind – which can often be uncomfortable, unattractive, and difficult to clean and maintain – Jensen is an immediate contrast with its residential look, comfortable cushions, and highly cleanable design from every angle… down to its solid surface caps which allow for a higher level of infection control,” said Carl Kennedy, Stance Healthcare’s President. “Especially in the COVID era and beyond, furniture specifiers and patients alike appreciate a more sanitary healthcare experience, and furniture influences a significant aspect of that. Jensen makes sitting in the waiting room a more comfortable experience, with end-users’ wellbeing in mind.”

All products in the Jensen lines offer Stance Healthcare’s highly cleanable, healthcare-grade surface finishes and fabrics, making them an ideal choice for facilities of all sizes and practices. Taking cleanability to a new level, the Jensen options, which include solid surface and healthcare-grade vinyl, are also more cleanable by design: Jensen provides both a generous clearance below the seats, offering easier access to floors for cleaning under furniture, and a design with reduced joint seams, which are prone to attract dirt and liquids.

In addition to supporting the cleanability story with reducing joint seams, the fully welded frame maximizes the frame’s strength and eliminates the potential for key structural parts coming loose over time – guaranteeing a longer-lasting, high quality product that is reliable and easy to maintain. The collections, which are tested for durability and offer customized seating width options, also include a Limited Lifetime Warranty, optional moisture barrier, and custom frame and wood arm finish options.

Continuing the product innovation momentum forward, Stance Healthcare is pursuing an ambitious product development plan involving at least one product launch per month in 2021. Follow along on Stance Healthcare’s blog, LinkedIn, and Instagram for regular updates on upcoming product launches, as well as engaging content centered on Stance’s Improving Lives by Design mission that educates and inspires.

About Stance Healthcare

Founded in 2006, Stance Healthcare manufactures furniture for healing environments, with a particular focus on hospitals and behavioral health facilities. Stance Healthcare has a reputation for providing high-quality products that meet the ever-evolving demands in the areas of design, comfort, safety, durability, renewability, infection control and environmental sustainability. With a strong understanding of patient-centered design, Stance Healthcare is committed to providing innovative furniture solutions that support the healing process. Please visit stancehealthcare.com for the latest news and in-depth information on Stance Healthcare and visit https://stancebh.com/ to learn more about our Behavioral Health offerings and insights.

Media Contact:

Allison Eckley, The Brandon Agency

336.414.4972

aeckley@thebrandonagency.com

In over a decade since our founding, Stance Healthcare has evolved from a metal chair manufacturer into a company on a mission to change the healthcare experience for patients, visitors, and care providers. This week, we’re introducing a new brand mission that is both a realization about who we’ve become, and a stake in the ground for our future: Improving Lives by Design. I couldn’t be more proud to introduce you to this refreshed brand and the new resources it has inspired.

Our renewed mission reflects the intention behind the products we make. For Stance, we aren’t just designing a chair, for example – our design process envisions the place where many minutes, sometimes hours are spent awaiting treatment or visiting a loved one. Even our side tables and accessories aim to serve a higher purpose of adding comfort, dignity, and beauty to every environment we contribute to. 

It’s a mission that has evolved organically, through years of listening to end-users about their needs and pain points with the typical ‘doctor’s office visit’. At Stance, we believe that patient care and patient outcomes are influenced by the environment in which care is delivered. Our innovative designs are purpose and patient-driven to create warm, supportive, enabling, durable, and dignifying spaces that motivate caregivers and reassure patients that they will get the best possible care. In doing so, we build caregiver morale, advance the healing environment, and improve lives. 

Improving Lives all started with a new logo. Last year, as we worked to create new brand imagery that reflected the modern, warm aesthetics our designs deliver, we uncovered much more to our brand story that needed to be shared. So, in addition to our new logo, we rolled our sleeves up and dug deeper to also deliver:

New websites that better showcase the difference in our products and design services, including an all-new website wholly dedicated to Stance Behavioral Health;

More robust social and email communications that offer insight into the work we put our hearts into;

An aggressive product development strategy that introduces new releases every month of the year; and finally,

A mission statement that encompasses our ‘why’: Improving Lives by Design.

Because we expect more from the healthcare environments we contribute to, you can expect more from us, starting today – and we look forward to delivering on that commitment. And while many of these resources are new, you can still rely on the exceptional customer service and custom design services that we’re already known for. Whether it’s a highly-cleanable, yet comfortable waiting area, or a new-construction ‘boutique’ Behavioral Health facility, Stance is here to support better healthcare environments for any specialty, size, or stage in the process. 

- Carl Kennedy, President, Stance Healthcare
 

Award-winning healthcare furniture manufacturers announce new digital tools, educational programming, and monthly product launches on heels of Charlotte, N.C. showroom opening

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Stance Healthcare, a furniture designer and manufacturer specializing in general healthcare and Behavioral Health settings, announces Improving Lives by Design, the mission-driven brand campaign empowering interior designers, healthcare facility planners, and Behavioral Health experts to improve healthcare experiences for all. Beginning March 1, the company is introducing a suite of digital, on-demand and in-person resources – amplifying the award-winning company’s commitment to making healing environments the new universal standard in healthcare.

Backing the Improving Lives mission are new websites and logos for both Stance Healthcare and its Behavioral Health subsidiary, as well as educational programming and monthly product launches slated for the remainder of 2021. The new brand experience comes at a cornerstone moment for Stance Healthcare, which has experienced remarkable growth in recent years by delivering intuitively-designed, cleanable, and durable furniture – all with the company’s signature, high-design-meets-comfortable aesthetic – to a variety of healthcare settings.

“In many ways, Improving Lives by Design is a realization about who we’ve been all along. We are purpose-driven to deliver intentional, evidence-based designs that support an exceptional healthcare experience… one that benefits not only patients, but visitors and care providers as well,” said Carl Kennedy, Stance Healthcare’s President. “What we offer is unique in a furniture industry that often considers healthcare merely a profitable venture, without considering the greater responsibility to create environments that comfort, contribute to healing, and make care delivery smoother. I’m proud to share a new brand that reflects the mission we take to heart every day.”

The refreshed brand follows Stance Healthcare’s recent opening of a new 6,000 square foot showroom and design collaborative opening in Charlotte, N.C., a move that cemented the company’s U.S. presence and position as an influential industry player in the $24B+ healthcare furniture marketplace. In addition to showcasing the company’s evolving lines of healthcare and Behavioral Health products, the first-of-its-kind showroom will soon offer designers and facility decision-makers a space to collaborate on projects in progress; receive education – including Continuing Education Unit (CEU) accredited courses – on the latest industry best practices; and obtain one-on-one counsel from in-house experts regarding individual Behavioral Health and other healthcare spaces. Programming will be accessible remotely and in-person, even after COVID-era restrictions for gathering have subsided.

For the family-owned company, the evolution toward Improving Lives by Design happened naturally, as Stance Healthcare has honed its product development strategy over time to directly address the needs of patients, visitors, and care providers. As a result, recent years have yielded multiple healthcare design industry award wins, including the 2019 Nightingale GOLD Award from Healthcare Design for the company’s Frontier collection for Behavioral Health.

Continuing the product innovation momentum forward, Stance Healthcare is pursuing an ambitious product development plan involving at least one product launch per month in 2021, with the first two – the Jensen Lounge and Jensen Guest Seating series – launching with the new brand March 1.

Improving Lives will also entail regular thought leadership and industry insights from Stance Healthcare’s talented leadership and product design team teams, including Behavioral Health designer, Suzanne Fawley, and Cesar Fernandes, Product Design & Development Manager. Follow along on Stance Healthcare’s blog, LinkedIn, and Instagram for regular updates and engaging content that educates and inspires.

About Stance Healthcare 

Founded in 2006, Stance Healthcare manufactures furniture for healing environments, with a particular focus on hospitals and behavioral health facilities. Stance Healthcare has a reputation for providing high-quality products that meet the ever-evolving demands in the areas of design, comfort, safety, durability, renewability, infection control and environmental sustainability. With a strong understanding of patient-centered design, Stance Healthcare is committed to providing innovative furniture solutions that support the healing process. Please visit stancehealthcare.com for the latest news and in-depth information on Stance Healthcare and visit https://stancebh.com/ to learn more about our Behavioral Health offerings and insights. 

New space from the award-winning healthcare and Behavioral Health furniture manufacturers is first of its kind in U.S.

 

Stance Healthcare, a furniture designer and manufacturer specializing in general healthcare and Behavioral Health settings, announces the opening of a new showroom and design collaborative in Uptown Charlotte, N.C. The 6,000 square-foot space featuring the 2019 Nightingale GOLD Award-winning company’s Behavioral Health and general healthcare products is a new approach to the traditional furniture showroom, as it is designed to also be a working space where designers, healthcare facility decision-makers, and Behavioral Health thought leaders meet, learn, and collaborate.
 

Conveniently located just 15 minutes from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the showroom solidifies Stance Healthcare’s presence as an industry leader in the U.S., where the company has experienced remarkable growth through partnerships with Behavioral Health and general healthcare facilities in the past decade. Known for their highly durable and functional products that also offer a comforting, warm aesthetic, the company is a leading furniture provider for healthcare integrated delivery networks (IDNs), primary care facilities, and Behavioral Health treatment centers of all sizes across the country, including several facilities furnished in North Carolina.
 

“Our furniture serves a higher purpose of aiming to improve the experience for healthcare patients, visitors, and caregivers,” said Suzanne Fawley, Stance Healthcare’s Behavioral Health designer. “This design collaborative is a natural extension of Stance Healthcare’s mission to create more healing environments through the spaces we furnish. We want anyone who visits the space to leave empowered with not only product knowledge about Stance Healthcare’s lines, but also the insights and best practices that will continue to transform the healthcare experience – from the waiting area to patient rooms – across the country.” 
 

Stance Healthcare envisions the space, which is currently open by appointment only for safety reasons, to be utilized post-COVID 19 and in the long-term as a highly collaborative “open door” gathering place for healthcare industry decision makers and influencers. The first-of-its-kind showroom will offer designers, healthcare facility planners, and Behavioral Health and wellness experts a space to collaborate on projects in progress; receive education – including Continuing Education Unit (CEU) accredited courses – on the latest industry best practices; and obtain one-on-one counsel from in-house experts regarding individual Behavioral Health and other healthcare spaces in progress. Following the eventual loosening of COVID-19 capacity restrictions, the Stance Healthcare team also has plans to host a speaker series in the space that rotates healthcare-related subject matter. Future topics for the speaker series, tentatively slated to launch in mid-2021, will include mental health, wellness, and Behavioral Health trends and insights, among others. 
 

“At Stance Healthcare, we are always thinking one step ahead – from the feel and function of each design down to the highly-cleanable fabric selections we offer,” said Carl Kennedy, Stance Healthcare’s president. “Every inch of product we produce is intentional, and built to ensure safety, comfort, and durability for end users. The new showroom is exciting because it offers a dedicated space for U.S. designers, healthcare facility decision-makers, and Behavioral Health leaders to experience in person what sets Stance Healthcare apart from the current healthcare furniture status-quo – not only our products, but our approach.”
 

The showroom opens on the heels of back-to-back award winning seasons that preceded 2020, a year marked by challenge and innovation for the family-owned company. Notably, two months into the global onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stance Healthcare announced a new fabric partnership in May 2020 that brought coronavirus-fighting fabrics to North America. This announcement came just 9 months after winning Healthcare Design’s Nightingale GOLD Award for the Frontier line, a bedroom collection for Behavioral Health settings, just two years after taking home the same honor for Stance Healthcare’s Resilia drum table collection.
 

Offering the industry’s largest selection of Behavioral Health-specified furniture, the company’s design emphasis on durability with a comforting aesthetic also translates to other types of spaces and facilities. Stance Healthcare’s rotationally-molded products feature rounded corners and are manufactured with naturally pick-proof materials for patients experiencing Behavioral Health treatment. Meanwhile, their solid surface side tables and metal chairs provide highly cleanable and comfortable options for a waiting room and other general areas of a healthcare facility.
 

“With a variety of care modules evolving for Behavioral Health and other healthcare settings, yesterday’s one-size-fits-all approach to interior design no longer works. The various areas of the facility must be treated independently,” said Fawley.

“Through the showroom, we are truly seeking to empower designers and other decision-makers to select the best possible products for the spaces they’re specifying. Our goal is to listen and guide visitors to leave equipped with the next steps needed to complete their project – even if that includes pointing them to additional resources outside of Stance Healthcare’s collections.”

Stance Healthcare’s Behavioral Health products support the evolving demand for increased Mental & Behavioral Health treatment facilities across the U.S. To learn more about these and the company’s other innovative product lines that support a variety of healthcare environments, including seating, tables, and case goods, visit https://www.stancehealthcare.com/. The new showroom is located at 712 Morris St, Charlotte, N.C., 28202.

There’s something about welcoming this new year in particular that feels special. In leaving behind a year largely marked by a global pandemic, we have the unique privilege of carrying forward the new insights, business survival skills, and innovations that came from it.

At Stance Healthcare, resilience, durability, and quality are core values driving our brand. Last year, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, we leaned on those qualities in a much more literal sense than any of us could have anticipated. However, with 2020 in the rear view, I believe Stance Healthcare is better positioned now than ever to improve the future of the healthcare experience with our thoughtfully-designed products. Here are just a few examples of what we’re looking forward to in 2021:

More all-new, design-forward products launching. Beginning with our Jensen Guest Chair and Lounge series launches in early February, we are excited to continue expanding our general healthcare and Behavioral Health product offerings throughout the calendar year. As always, you can expect premium quality, durability, and attractive aesthetics from everything we introduce.
Continuing to focus on infection control and cleanability. In the COVID era and beyond, Stance Healthcare’s commitment to providing products that are highly cleanable and shown to thwart virus transmission will remain a top priority. In 2021, we’ll keep a laser focus on being a go-to source for the most cleanable fabrics and surface materials on the market.
A brand new Stance Healthcare look and feel. In March, Stance Healthcare will have a new and improved brand, including a refreshed logo, new website and marketing materials, and initiatives that give our customers more access to all our growing company has to offer.
Safely opening our first-of-its-kind design showroom and collaborative space in Charlotte, N.C. We are proud to now offer a 6,000 sq. foot space for designers and other furniture specifiers to meet, learn about Stance Healthcare products and industry insights, and collaborate on projects in development. And once the pandemic subsides, we look forward to using this space to gather together for education, charitable initiatives, and a speaker/event series. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more on this evolving space!
Championing Behavioral Health in our products and education. In 2021, we are excited to launch a new website dedicated specifically to our Behavioral Health specialty, while ramping up our involvement in extending Behavioral Health-related industry education for all. From a continuing education (CEU) program authored by our own Behavioral Health Designer, to our partnership with the Center for Health Design on more BH-related seminars and workshops, we are committed to our role as a resource for all things Behavioral Health.

In all that we do this year, Stance Healthcare will remain focused on delivering unmatched customer service. We look forward to working with you all to provide an exceptional healthcare experience for the countless patients, caregivers, and visitors our products support.

Warm regards,

Carl Kennedy

We have renewed our commitment to being a Gold level partner for the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers.  Especially now, we believe Certified Healthcare Interior Designers are an important asset to the industry as they understand healthcare design challenges and work towards enhancing the health, quality, and safety of healthcare interior environments.  Stance Healthcare and the AAHID are both committed to transforming the healthcare environment into one for healing, improving outcomes, and maximizing efficiency.

About AAHID
AAHID is a nonprofit organization committed to the development and administration of the only certification program for healthcare interior designers. It is not a membership organization, but rather an organization that board-certifies interior designers in the U.S. and Canada that specialize in acute care, ambulatory care, and residential care facility design.

Ontario, Canada – Stance Healthcare has been awarded a group purchasing agreement for contract category with Premier. Effective January 1, 2021, the new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier for furniture and systems, casegoods, seating and accessories.

“As a growing manufacturer of healthcare furniture and a leader in Behavioral Health solutions, we are honored to be awarded this opportunity to provide quality furniture to members of Premier’s alliance of hospitals and health systems,” says Carl Kennedy, President. “We look forward to building a successful and collaborative long-term agreement with Premier based on creating value for their members”.

Stance Healthcare’s extensive collection of patient seating, recliners, bariatric seating, sleepover seating, guest seating, lounge seating, occasional tables and casegoods for general and Behavioral Healthcare applications are now offered in Premier’s carefully selected portfolio of choices to alliance members.

The GPO selects vendors that provide the highest quality products at the best possible value. The lengthy selection process includes Premier members who determine which companies and products are awarded a contract. Criteria can vary by category and is designed by members who have subject matter expertise on the product category being reviewed. Criteria includes; quality, safety, clinical impact, cost effectiveness, physician preference, environmental impact, diversity, breakthrough potential and member input.

There was no way we were going to let COVID-19 get in the way of our Annual Toy Drive! In previous years staff would bring in their donations to the office for delivery to Toy Mountain. However, this year we had to do things a bit different. Instead, we held a number of raffles for staff whose ticket purchases allowed us to raise $1075 and purchase 70+ toys online. The toys were delivered directly to our local Salvation Army.  We also want to give a special thanks to Heritage Group for their Amazon gift card donation that allowed us to top off our toy donations with a few extras!

In support of Movember, a leading charity changing the face of men’s health on a global scale, seven brave men at Stance Healthcare agreed to forgo their regular shaving routines. Our fundraising efforts included mustache themed games in the office and reaching out to our network of friends, families, and suppliers. At the end of November, the men were able to enjoy a clean shave and feel good that they helped raise $2,400 for health projects focused on mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.