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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
 

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.

Last month office staff were challenged to log the most hours of physical activity to win funds that would be donated to their charity of choice. The friendly fitness challenge had 20 staff members log over 18,560 hours of physical activity. Although a friendly competition, there were a few heated debates over what qualified as physical activity. Does golfing really count if you’re riding around in a golf cart? In the end, the event was a big success, and $7,500 was distributed among 6 different charitable organizations as selected by the fitness challenge winners:

$2,500 – Heart & Stroke Foundation
$1500 – Lisaard & Innisfree Hospice
$1000 – Hockey Helps the Homeless
$750 – Jack.org
$750 – The Cancer Vanquish
$750 – Sick Kids Foundation