Impact that improves a patient’s point of view

Our vision to improve the human experience through thoughtful design isn’t always easy. Healthcare solutions must always balance patient needs with operational efficiencies, and sometimes the two meet at a crossroads.

Our JJCA team members have a high standard of creating solutions for the benefit of all. We keep creating, revising, adapting, and working until the solution emerges.

David Brown remembers an opportunity at North Valley, now Logan Health Whitefish in picturesque Whitefish, MT. It was not surprising that hospital staff wanted every patient room to have a view of the mountains. We appreciated that a patient's mindset is a key contributor to recovery and well-being.

Our challenge was to resolve the challenge that all the hospital services, such as imaging, surgery, etc., were located across the main public hall from patient rooms. We knew that the downside of patient views was that visitors would see gurneys regularly passing across the hall.

So, we brainstormed. We contacted a door hardware consultant, and devised the solution to reverse a door closer; this created a railroad crossing such that two doors opened, and two doors closed, which allowed gurneys to pass at certain times with visual privacy. This was the best option to balance patient needs with operational efficiencies.

David remembers being in the public hall after the hospital opened, and seeing how the crossings operated, knowing that the JJCA team had worked hard to accomplish their goals to provide great views from the patient rooms AND maintain their dignity and privacy. That sense of accomplishment is what drives us every day.

And David still recalls how gratifying and exciting it was to know that our work had truly impacted the Whitefish patients’ experience. He says he could have sat in the hallway and watched staff use the railroad doors again and again. In fact, it is a solution we have used many times since because it worked so well.

Our firm’s vision is exactly right for all of us at JJCA, even when we’re at a crossroads.