Sereneview products play an important role in creating a truly healing environment at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, according to Kathy Etre, Vice President of Mission. From the privacy curtains to the glass door/partitions, to the ceiling tiles, Sereneview products make everyone’s life better by reducing the anxiety and stress that they feel in the hospital. They enhance the healing aesthetics of the hospital from the Care & Comfort room all the way up to the patient rooms.
Kathy Etre talks about her mission and how Sereneview makes it better, “The Care & Comfort Room is like a sacred space and it’s a place where families can have some solace while their family member is coming to the end of their life in the hospital.”
Previously, the Care & Comfort Room had these clear windows. If people were walking by, they could see into this highly private and emotional time the family was experiencing. They wanted to avoid a sterile setting, they wanted a beautiful scene to add some peaceful distraction and respite to the room and the situation.
“I love that it’s the same scene on both sides of the window, inside the room and outside in the hall so it really feels like the outdoors are right in the room. It’s a beautiful, beautiful aspen scene that is Santa Fe, northern New Mexico. It feels very much like home. I know that having families sit in here just gives them something to focus on.” With the two-sided treatment, it also announces to passers-by that the space on the other side is special and to be respected.
Sereneview’s Loren Price asked Kathy to clarify, “So it’s more for the families than it is for the patient?”
Kathy confirmed, “It really is in here, in the Care & Comfort Room (it is for the patients receiving the news with their families) at a really sacred time.”
Regarding the mission at Christus St. Vincent, Kathy tells us, “We’re really big on creating a healing environment and I’m the VP of Admissions, so I oversee spiritual care and one of our goals is holistic care. Holistic care is about recognizing the whole spiritual side of healing, so nature and artwork are very much a part of spiritual healing.” She went on to explain, “We’ve carried artwork throughout the hospital with a certain kind of look that is uplifting. The curtains bring the outdoors in. In all of our new wing, we have really large windows. In the older part of the hospital, we have windows too, but they’re just not as large, so the curtains really enhance bringing the outdoors in.
Having familiar scenes really helps take people away. I have a friend who was hospitalized recently with a broken foot. She didn’t want to be bothered with TV, but what she did was close the curtain and just look at the curtain. It brought her so much calm and peace. It was really helpful to her healing.”
Kathy says that the positive effect doesn’t end with patients and their families. It greatly affects those caring for the patients. “So when you come into the hospital for work, it’s kind of like you’re in a capsule. It’s easy to forget the time of day and what day it is because everything is encapsulated. Having these images throughout the hospital of nature where it could be your backyard or could be the place you like to hike most of all. It’s just uplifting for the staff as well. It brings a lot to both staff and patients as well. We love them. We get compliments all the time.”
Sometimes space is limited or highly valuable for how it is used. A combination of window, ceiling and curtain treatments make it possible to envelop the patient with a peaceful setting to distract them from their situation. Kathy’s final comments are about this: “The curtains are really beautiful, but I also appreciate so very much the window treatments in places that would be difficult to keep curtains clean and keep curtains in good condition. In our triage area, in labor and delivery, for example, where curtains would be bulky, so by treating the windows, it keeps everything pristine and clean, as well as creating this beautiful scene.”
Contact us to talk about your windows and doors.
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Sereneview hospital curtains, window treatments, and overhead lit ceiling tiles transform a previously sterile and frightening experience by allowing patients to be distracted with the peaceful beauty of nature. In addition, the curtains combat the issue of infection because of the antimicrobial elements in the fabric that cut down on handling, maintenance, and risk of infection. Costs are kept wildly below the cost of typical curtains or disposable curtains when you factor in replacement costs, cleaning costs, labor costs, as well as the stress and disruption in the room when there is patient turnover.