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On a beautiful, 100-acre site filled with natural habitat, wildlife and picturesque scenery, St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City, MO, built a brand new 373,000-square-foot building. The hospital’s ultimate goal was to improve the patient experience by way of nature and quietness. There is a serene view from every corner of the hospital.
Each of the hospital’s 167 patient rooms includes a family zone with a sleeper couch and a caregiver space. “We have supply servers in every room,” explains Mike Bock. “They hold approximately 80 percent of the supplies the caregiver administers at the bedside. So nurses don’t have to go searching for supplies or leave the room. Everything is right there, allowing them to spend more time at the bedside.”
One of the primary goals of the hospital was creating the quietest healing environment possible. They achieved this through design materials, including nora flooring, which was selected to cover all patient care and clinical areas. ”It’s very important to provide a quiet healing environment,” says Bock. “Patients and staff experience substantially less noise in this facility. You don’t hear people walking down the halls; you don’t hear carts rolling down the corridors. It’s much quieter than I anticipated. We hear that from our customers, too, and it’s obvious when you’re up on the units.”
Becki Collier, marketing and communications consultant, agrees, adding, “You can walk through the hospital, and people wonder where everybody else is. It’s just that quiet. It gives you a much more peaceful feeling.”
In addition to acoustic control, durability and maintenance remained high on the list of requirements when it came to material selection. “When the room is full, it’s difficult to go in and wax a VCT floor, which was always a challenge in the old facility,” explains Bock. “I think with rubber you can have the best of both worlds. You don’t have any wax, but you can also put a sheen on it by burnishing it.”
Considering the long-term benefits of nora flooring, Bock shares, “I know that I can put rubber down, and I can easily maintain it for the rest of my career and not have to worry about it. If I put carpet down, in four to five years it’s going to have to be replaced. It’s going to show wear and stains that you will not have with rubber.”
