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Our healthcare providers have always gone above and beyond to deliver lifesaving care, and the COVID era brought to light just how dedicated and selfless these amazing members of society really are. Whether navigating a pandemic, or making it through a 24-hour shift, healthcare providers require rest to recharge and continue performing at their best. Today more than ever, healthcare providers report experiencing burnout, and helping them get more rest is one crucial way we can help them recover, recharge and avoid burnout.

To help healthcare providers rest, most medical office buildings offer quiet rooms for mid-shift breaks and sleeping. These areas should offer dimmed lighting, muted color schemes, and minimized distracting noise however possible – while most importantly providing furniture that invites relaxation and ultimately, sleep.

As healthcare furniture manufacturers, Stance has a unique opportunity to serve these professionals with comfortable, quality products that encourage rest for any period of time. From versatile lounge chairs to sofas, Stance offers several options that work well in designated quiet areas for healthcare workers. Many of these products also serve patients and visitors in patient rooms as well. Below are just a few of the Stance products that offer respite for our hard-working healthcare professionals:

Verity recliner chair: Our Verity recliner offers an inviting aesthetic that brings a more residential feel to clinical settings. Recliners are perhaps the most versatile option for healthcare environments to offer providers, as the adjustable back can accommodate a short break or an hours-long rest.

Verity sleeper: We designed our Verity sleeper with extra width and a stylish design that provides a welcoming place for caregivers to rest during their long shifts. This product was developed in response to healthcare systems asking us for wider sofas that can more comfortably accommodate a variety of end-users.

Strada sleeper sofa: Contemporary in design, Strada is a highly comfortable sleep sofa that effortlessly converts to a sleep surface while maintaining its minimalist footprint. It is also mechanism-free and easy-to-clean.

Valet lounge chair: This versatile, uniquely-shaped chair invites a “deep” sit from end-users, allowing the body to sink into the seat, while slightly pitched back. With arms designed with accessibility in mind through easy egress, Valet is accommodating for a quick snooze or a longer rest.

Clover three-seat lounge chair: Our cozy Clover sofa invites care providers to curl up and relax in a variety of positions. From taking a few moments to recharge with a book, to fully reclining while curled up with a blanket for a longer nap, Clover was designed with respite in mind.

Carson recliner: In addition to its sleek aesthetic and reclining function, the Carson recliner offers a slim profile – helping it more comfortably and seamlessly join shared areas like designated quiet rooms.

These are just a few of the continually evolving offerings from Stance Healthcare. Supporting healthcare workers through products that encourage quality rest on the job is one of the ways we further our mission of Improving Lives by Design. Follow our blog as we continue to introduce new products that encourage care providers, as well as patients and visitors, to experience rest.

Stance’s award-winning Resilia drum table features a Marmoleum™ surface, and Corian solid surface top, making it extremely durable and easy to clean. This collections modern and practical design originally included a steel plinth base, but is now available with a steel bottom plate in lieu of a plinth base, giving Resila more design flexibility. A great alternative to laminate, Resilia is available in 16 Marmoleum finishes, including a colorful rainbow collection - perfect for pediatric spaces, in addition to 8 Corian solid surface top finishes. Resilia's variety of sizes, shapes, finishes, and optional power/usb provides the flexibility to select an occasional table that works for any healthcare or behavioral healthcare space.

Stance Healthcare always designs with a better, more inviting healthcare experience in mind. Every detail from start to finish is meant to improve the lives of everyone involved. Now, Stance has added a new detail to make healthcare environments, such as waiting areas, more inviting. Available on the Marathon and Legend seating options, the new memory gel seat topper helps enhance the comfort of any space.
 

Stance’s Marathon Collection is designed to endure heavy use in hospitals and clinics. With fully welded configuration, moisture barriers for added protection and solid nylon arms that are nearly indestructible, Marathon’s seating is built to last. Now, with the addition of the new memory gel seat topper, that dependable durability is combined with a new level of comfort to create a more inviting waiting room chair. Available in a variety of metal finishes, 3 seat widths, and a range of contrasting fabrics, Marathon has the versatility to fit any space.

The new memory gel seat topper is also available on the Stance Legend line of products — enhancing the comfort of any already-inviting line. The Legend Collection of seating offers extreme durability and a clean, welcoming aesthetic that fits seamlessly in the modern healthcare space. Featuring a fully welded design for added structural integrity, removable arm caps for easy replacement, and wall-saver frame design to protect walls from damage, it’s a line that’s made to look better for longer. Plus, it gives healthcare spaces the flexibility to fit their specific needs with 3 seat widths, choice of surface arm caps, contrasting fabrics and a variety of custom finishes. Legend is the perfect choice for versatile, reliable hospital chairs that work anywhere.
   

Check out the new memory gel seat topper and learn more about the full Stance Marathon and Legend lineups at StanceHealthcare.com today.

The waiting room experience as we know it is changing, and that’s a good thing. When we imagine the traditional approach to healthcare waiting room design, complete with parallel and perpendicular lines of identical metal chairs lining the center and perimeter of the room, we also imagine the anxiety that comes with sitting in such a room impatiently. But thanks to new design approaches, supported by versatile healthcare collections like those we make here at Stance, the waiting room experience can conjure comfort and relaxation.

Today’s waiting rooms should abandon the clinical-feeling layouts and limited furniture selections of the past and instead embrace creative seating arrangements and furniture that looks more residential. Applying these two best practices yields an environment that is more inviting to different types of users, from those anxiously awaiting test results to those casually popping in for a routine checkup. To better serve these varied types of patients and visitors, designers and facility planners are opting for a mix of seating types, and using them to create vignette-like settings that introduce options for added privacy and comfort. So, what are some specific ways healthcare facilities can achieve a more residential feel that makes the wait more welcoming? Below are a few guidelines.

1. Prioritize convenience and productivity — In the modern waiting room, the stacks of old magazines no longer suffice. To help give patients options that keep them occupied, explore ways to better enable the use of personal devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones throughout the space, such as offering easy access to power outlets and providing strong Wi-Fi connectivity. Further, try to offer a range of posture options with seating choices that go beyond the typical medical waiting room chairs to provide options for upright sitting as well as lounging and standing.

Stance’s selections: Stance Healthcare’s Clover Lounge Collection — a great choice for family seating that allows, for example, parents and kids to comfortably curl up and relax together — supports waiting room productivity via an option with built-in power/USB connectivity. Other Stance offerings with power/USB options include the Attessa modular lounge seating and tables, the Carson Lounge Seating family and the lounge seating options in the Cassia collection.

2. Crank up the comfort — The most inviting waiting spaces deliver a balance between separation and closeness, allowing patients to choose whether they’d be more comfortable staying in an activity-filled space shared with others in close proximity or retreating to a quieter, more personal area farther away from others. In addition, by incorporating calming elements such as soothing textures, colors, artwork, lighting and scenery, designers and facility planners can make the space more comforting.

Stance’s selections: With a highback perfect for lounging in, Stance’s Valet collection adds unexpected comfort to any waiting room area. In addition, as mentioned above, Stance’s Clover Lounge Collection can deliver high levels of comfort by allowing guests to stretch out while they wait. The previously mentioned Attessa line also offers booths that can help lend more privacy to areas of the waiting room — and with a shelf on the back, they could be coordinated with a bold bar-high seat to mix up the seating options. The Legend and Marathon armchairs from Stance, each available with comfort-focused single-, double- and triple-seat options, provide additional options for mixing up seating arrangements in a waiting space. And to ensure that designers can add soothing elements to their waiting room furniture choices, Stance’s entire furniture collection offers a broad range of fabric options and custom finishes.

3. Foster flexibility — The best waiting spaces can accommodate a range of different settings, such as seating and tables that allow patients to eat and/or play games while they wait, or a more lounge-oriented area to simply relax in comfort. Hospital waiting room furniture options that can be easily moved, reconfigured and stacked to create more open space when needed can lend even more flexibility to these spaces, making them more adaptable.

Stance’s selections: Stance’s Spry Seating Collection delivers versatility with connected linking tables to create space between patients, along with the option for freestanding tables, too. Stance’s Verity Lounge Collection provides a great lounge option, while Stance’s Jensen metal seating also has a matching Jensen lounge chair to provide an easy way to elevate a space with multiple seating options. Another option from Stance that supports flexibility in waiting room furnishing is its Bora drum tables, which can serve as ottomans that allow those in the waiting room to put up their feet, or people can choose to sit directly on the ottoman thanks to their sturdy build and ideal sitting height.

Those are just a few of many emerging new best practices for improving the waiting room experience. To learn more from industry leaders, follow our blog and our partners at the Center for Health Design.

Providing More Comfort Through Better Design

Stance Healthcare’s Verity Collection is a versatile family of products that brings comfort and warmth to any healthcare space. The Verity recliner and sleepers offer visitors and caretakers a place for respite when they need it most. Now, Stance has expanded the Verity line to include a new, wider hospital sleeper  — increasing the functionality and flexibility of the clean, stylish collection. 

A custom request from a healthcare system inspired Stance to first develop the wider version of the Verity Sleeper – and now, this more comfortable and versatile product is a standard offering. Today’s healthcare systems are increasingly looking for wider sleepers to better accommodate end users, so Stance designed a hospital sofa bed with more room for rest — and made it part of its standard offerings. While the wider sleeper provides a place for visitors to wait in comfort during long stays, its function goes far beyond that. The extra width and stylish design also provide a welcoming place for caregivers to rest during their long shifts — positively impacting the whole healthcare experience.

The wide hospital sleeper, along with the rest of the Verity Collection, is designed to make the healthcare experience easier to manage for everyone involved. Every product in the Verity line features non-marring glides to protect floors from being damaged during use, replaceable legs and arm caps, and a concealed clean-out space between the seat and back for easy upkeep. Plus, Verity products come with the option to add a moisture barrier to provide more durability and make cleanup even easier.

The Verity Collection offers flexibility and functionality for a range of healthcare spaces. The recliner, two-seat sofa and three-seat sofa come with the choice of replaceable wood, polyurethane, rigid polyester, or solid surface arm caps; a range of contrasting healthcare fabrics to choose from; and an impressive range of metal, wood and solid surface finish options to give healthcare providers a look and feel that fits their space.

With the addition of the wider sleeper, Stance Healthcare has expanded the Verity Collection and increased the possibilities in the healthcare experience. The Verity products work together to create an inviting, more residential feel that brings comfort to oftentimes uncomfortable experiences. What’s more, they are yet another example of  how Stance strives to improve lives by design every day. 


          
 

In an industry plagued by supply chain delays and operational interruptions, Stance Healthcare’s Stratford, ON furniture manufacturing center has a formula for smooth sailing. We spoke with Shane Castle, Stance’s Director of Supply Chain Management, about what makes the Stratford factory’s 10-person team so special — and how they work together to deliver our premium quality products on time.

While navigating COVID-related supply issues, Stance acquired the Stratford facility in February 2021 to help support the company’s primary manufacturing operations in Kitchener, ON. At the time, the location was solely equipped for producing casegoods; today, Stance’s small-but-mighty Stratford team of 10 has evolved the location’s capabilities to cover virtually every aspect of manufacturing Stance’s expansive product pipeline. From the award-winning Resilia drum table, to customer favorites Kindred, Gibraltar, and Liberty lines — it’s all made here and delivered quickly, with our casegoods arriving in an impressive average of 6 weeks’ turnaround time.

“We’re nimble because our entire team is cross-trained, so everything we do really is a true team effort,” said Castle. He noted that the team has “perfected” wrapping the Resilia table and has worked to clean up and greatly improve the facility itself through new lighting and all-around better operational efficiency. 

The team’s ability to scale and perform quickly is the result of both the talent of the highly-skilled staff and the environment they initially started out working in: peak COVID, with all of its workforce and supply chain issues. At a time when healthcare facilities were at capacity, Stratford answered calls to quickly produce and deliver Stance’s products, including bedside tables and beds, for pop-up facilities designed to accommodate more sick patients. 

The experience of performing during COVID well prepared the healthcare furniture team at Stratford to continue thriving amid supply chain issues today. Castle credits the team’s success to their focus on true collaboration and teamwork, communication, and a fierce commitment to quality. 

“Our competitors right now are generally delivering product in around 12 weeks’ time — but we’re able to stay nimble and deliver [our casegoods] in nearly half that time.”

When they’re not working together to bring award-winning products to market, the Stratford team dedicates time to giving back to its tight-knit community. Since their inception in 2021, the group has proudly supported Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth and Make-a-Wish Canada through sponsorships that support palliative-care patients and their loved ones, and grant “wishes” to terminally ill children, respectively.

“This is such a great team, Castle said. Everyone works together — and the advantage of our lean team is that we are all cross-trained and most importantly, willing to help each other. We are truly a small team that’s doing big things.”

With such a successful track record, the Stratford healthcare furniture team and Stance leadership are exploring ways to continue expanding the operation through more investment and growth. Stay tuned to the Stance blog for future news and insights about the Stratford team, and many ways it supports our company’s commitment to Improving Lives by Design. 

The Gibraltar Collection from Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health offers safe, durable and easy-to-clean furniture for patient rooms. All of the Gibraltar patient furniture features aluminum legs for a sleek look that also protects against damage. Most recently, a new bed has been added to the collection specifically designed to better match the aesthetics of the existing line. The new bed features aluminum corner posts that match the other pieces in the collection resulting in a seamless overall look that’s built to last.

The complete Gibraltar Collection includes bedside tables, dressers, wardrobes and beds —providing patients with everything they need to feel comfortable, cared for and accommodated during their stay. 

The Gibraltar Series’ Behavioral Health version offers a range of added features designed to ensure patient safety. These include ligature-resistant features such as inset pulls, continuous hinges and a J-Bar in the wardrobe. All of the items in the Behavioral Health Collection can be bolted to the floor or wall for added safety, and the new bed is available in a model that includes tie-downs. Further, the drawers included in the Behavioral Health version are non-removable, and the wardrobe has sloped tops.

All of the products in the Gibraltar collection come in a variety of laminate finishes, with customizable options to better suit the needs of various healthcare spaces.

With the addition of the new Gibraltar bed, Stance continues its commitment to offering better-designed, more functional furniture to fit the needs of healthcare spaces everywhere.

Dear Stance partners,

During the holiday season, I took time to reflect back on all that we have achieved over the past few years, despite the tremendous odds presented by the pandemic and subsequent supply-chain challenges. I am grateful to say that Stance has emerged from this adversity stronger than ever before.

While our sales flat-lined in 2020, they grew quickly in the two subsequent years, and we are projecting a continued strong trajectory of growth in 2023. This is a result of many individual achievements by the entire Stance team and our network of Independent Reps. These achievements include a complete rebrand, a full-service showroom in North Carolina, several award-winning new products, a #1 ranked Behavioral Health CEU and a next-level appearance at HCD 2022 in San Antonio. To all these individuals, I wish to extend a big Thank You! Your effort and contribution to our ongoing success is much appreciated.

It is our commitment to continue to introduce innovative new products that enhance the healing experience of patients, while providing comfort for caregivers and family members. This is part of Stance’s mission of Improving Lives by Design, a mission that also extends to all members of the Stance family, and the wider community around us. Last year, we were able to support more causes than ever before, from providing clean water to a community in Africa to donating furniture to a new mental health clinic and several other impactful initiatives. We are pleased to be able to give back in this way.

Speaking of new products, 2023 is going to be another busy year for our Engineering team. With a very full pipeline of products in development, our team is working hard to bring these to fruition and we are excited about what we will be bringing to market this year for General and Behavioral Health applications.

We will also continue to strive to provide the same level of customer service that we have become known for. Our Customer Service team is passionate about setting Stance apart by offering a level of support that is second to none in our industry. Stance would not be where we are today without this stellar team.

Again, thank you all for your support. I wish you all the very best in 2023!

Sincerely,

Carl Kennedy

Founder & CEO

At Stance, our purpose of improving lives by design not only includes patients, their family and caregivers, it also includes improving the lives of those in our local community and around the world. From sponsorships to clothing drives, below are the organizations Stance was proud to support in 2022:

Cambridge Shelter
Food Bank of Waterloo Region

Hockey Helps the Homeless

Hydrating Humanity

Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth

House of Friendship

Make-A-Wish Canada

Movember

OneRoof

Steve Smith Family Foundation

Toy Mountain

How Stance Refreshed Its Finishes To Keep Its Products Current

Stance Healthcare and Stance Behavioral Health have spent the past year refining and refreshing the finishes they offer in order to stay current and provide customers with choices. By providing more variety and more relevance in terms of finishes, Stance is better suited to fit the needs of any type of healthcare space.

Some of the new finishes were selected with specific spaces in mind. For instance, the new Rainbow Collection of Marmoleum finishes is bright, lively, and inviting, making them perfect for pediatric spaces. In addition to the Marmoleum Rainbow Collection, Stance also updated its standard Marmoleum collection to include 8 distinct finishes – Silt Stone, Withered Prairie, Red Horse, Cliffs of Moher, Trace of Nature, Urban Silver, Desert Sand, and Welsh Moor. The Standard and Rainbow Marmoleum finishes are available on the Resilia and Pavilion tables, available for both Healthcare and Behavioral Health.

Stance also recently refreshed its offering of Corian® solid surface finishes. The company discontinued a couple of finishes but added  4 new ones to bring the number of Corian® solid surface finishes up to 8. They include  Glacier White, Camera White, Bisque, Linen, Pearl Gray, Silver Gray, Dove, and Canyon.

Stance’s commitment to updating its finishes extended into its wood, laminate, and thermofoil offerings as well. Earlier this year Stance added four new finish colors to its portfolio of wood, laminate, and thermofoil. The new finish colors – Aria, White Chocolate, Dolce Vita, and Palomino – add even more style and versatility to our robust collection of laminate finishes. Further, Stance’s new color options will match across all types of finishes – a unique offering in the healthcare furniture marketplace. (While other furniture makers may offer a variety of colors in each finish, they don’t always match across all finishes.)

Stance Healthcare knows that every detail of the design matters, including finishes. That’s why the company uses materials built to stand the test of time. That’s important from a budget standpoint – healthcare facilities want durable pieces that withstand wear and tear and are easy to maintain. Stance strives to strike a balance between comfort and durability with every product it manufactures, and the finishes it uses to play a significant role in how it achieves this.

Finishes and colors play a factor in our moods, and in commercial settings including healthcare, color selections must be intentional. For example, a fast-food restaurant might select colors that encourage busyness for quick eating, such as red; in a healthcare setting, we aim for the opposite: soothing tones, patterns, and hues that conjure a sense of calm and comfort in patients, care providers, and visitors. Finishes in Stance’s collection convey a neutral feel.

In addition to the wide variety of finishes it currently offers, Stance is open to quoting custom color finishes on a project-by-project basis. It’s proof of Stance’s dedication to remaining on the leading edge of hospital furniture design – and to improving lives by design. And, as a leader in the industry, Stance will continue to refresh and revamp the products it offers in order to better meet the constantly changing needs of the healthcare landscape.