True to our motto, “With people in mind”, our mission at Arjo is to help improve quality of life for people living with mobility- and age-related health challenges. We also strive to create a better and safer working environment for caregivers.
When designing a care environment, people – in this case residents in long-term care settings and patients in acute care settings, as well as the caregivers – should be at the center of the entire process. This focus is essential to achieve an attractive and efficient environment that stands the test of time. Below is an extract from our Insights page on How to plan for mobility and flexibility which is available in our Architect and Planners online portal. (Free Sign-up)
"Plan for mobility and flexibility
An effective and efficient care environment needs to facilitate patient and resident mobility. This means that the space and layout should allow for the ergonomic use of mobility aids and equipment that enable patients and residents to participate in daily activities and personal care routines.
As a natural part of the aging process, over time elderly residents may become increasingly dependent on caregivers to perform their daily activities. As such, their care environment needs to be adaptable for different residents with different levels of mobility, as well as different levels of cognition.
Arjo has developed a comprehensive selection of plan drawings detailing the minimum required working space required for caregivers to be able to use the necessary mechanical aids as intended. These individual drawings depict individual care situations rather than full rooms, so that they can be selected and combined to suit any facility floor plan. However, complete drawings are also available for ideal room types, such as resident rooms, bathrooms and soiled utility rooms, to provide a planning guideline.
These guidelines are supported by key insights that have been developed over our decades of specialised expertise, and which we will introduce in the rest of this article."
Planning for change
Here at Arjo we have developed the guide for Architects and Planners, a digital portal that contains CAD drawings, room layout examples and space requirements. You can find the insights and drawings in the link (free sign-up) below.
