The 3-day AJA Conference and Trade Show in Reno, Nevada marks the 30th anniversary of the annual gathering of jail and detention facility managers and officers. Norix displayed a large selection of intensive-use furniture and fixtures in a 20’x20’ booth – one of the larger exhibits in the show, which ran from April 22-26, 2012.
10 May
Norix ‘Extraordinary by Design’ Video Well Received
Recently, we designed a video, ‘Norix Extraordinary By Design Furniture Features and Capabilities’ to give our customers an overview on the products we offer and the various features they include. Due to our vast product offering, many customers asked us for a quick explanation on each product line in hopes of explaining these features to their teams when planning, designing and implementing a new facility. The video was well-received by them and so we thought we’d share it with you, too! You can watch by clicking the screen below, and read more on the features following the video.
5 May
Norix Ultra-Max Chairs Gorilla-Tested Tough, According to Koko
Norix Ultra-Max chairs are built to withstand challenging environments like prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and shelters, but we never anticipated our furniture would be use-tested by a 400-lb Western Lowland gorilla.
Just recently, Norix Customer Care Department began receiving inquiries from individuals across the U.S. looking to purchase an Ultra-Max chair for the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside CA, near San Francisco. That is the home of the world’s most renowned gorilla, Koko.
25 Apr
Detention Center Expansion Requires Big-Building Project Know-How
A recent article in AMERICAN Jails points out that most municipalities or county agencies are unprepared for the experience of undertaking a mega-building project such as a hospital, jail, or some other large complex which may come up once in a lifetime for the government officials involved.
Few can even anticipate the range of scenarios that could unfold over the course of several years that it may take to complete a $100 million project. What also adds to the complexity in the case of an addition or renovation is that most municipal services must remain ongoing and uninterrupted for the entire duration of renovation. A jail can’t turn inmates out into the community until construction is finished, and a hospital can’t pack-up and store all the life-sustaining equipment. The logistical web is daunting, and not for the inexperienced.
In his article, 7 Lessons for Large Construction Projects, project manager Scott Pinkerton describes the lessons learned during the construction of a $108-million update and expansion of the 235,000 s.f. Sacramento County, CA Youth Detention Center.
16 Apr
Factory Authorized Furniture Installations Fortify Your Norix Product Warranty
Norix Group specializes in intensive-use furniture for challenging environments. Due to the unique nature of the furniture, its assembly and installation, and the customers served – Norix has established its own installation group, to ensure the furniture is properly installed to Norix’ specifications by trained professionals.
Factory Authorized Installation Q&A:
What does a Factory Authorized Installation entail?
We offer a variety of installation services for your convenience and peace of mind, based on the requirements of your project. These include:
- Coordination by a dedicated Project Manager at Norix Factory
- On-site project supervision by a trained Lead Supervisor
- Logistics, coordination and scheduling furniture delivery
- Meeting the delivery truck
- Offloading, unpacking, staging and distributing furniture throughout your facility
- Furniture layout per approved plan
5 Apr
Renovated Psychiatric Center Design Improvements Tour
The Missouri Psychiatric Center recently completed a $13 million dollar renovation of the 50-year old building, now owned by the University of Missouri Health Care System in Columbus. As part of the 7-month renovation project both patient and staff areas in the second-floor adult unit were completely redesigned for improved patient safety, comfort, and staff efficiency. The renovated psychiatric center can be seen below.
Left; newly renovated adult unit in the Missouri Psychiatric Center. Right; Norix Ultra-Max arm chair in Lagoon, and Max-Master table.
In a brief 3:44 minute video, the tour of the adult unit illustrates key design aspects including color schemes, furnishings, and surfaces used in patient dining areas, bathrooms, and staff work areas. The facility representative, Missy Jost, who narrates the tour, describes the safety and comfort features of the Norix dayroom furniture pieces that were installed in the unit. She demonstrates on camera how easily the sand-weighted Ultra-Max chairs can slide, but because of the weight, cannot be lifted completely off the floor. Ultra-Max chairs in two colors, River Rock and Lagoon coordinate with the Jupiter tables, also seen in the video.
Renovated Psychiatric Center Video
Watch the video on the renovated psychiatric center below:
25 Mar
Safety Measures for Furnishing Patient Rooms in Behavioral Health Facilities
In addition to the potential safety hazards of using standard furniture in patient bedrooms, fixtures and other elements such as window coverings and hardware also warrant careful consideration to minimize injury and despoiling in behavioral health settings.
Windows, doors, flooring, hardware and fixtures in patient bedrooms and bathrooms need to be extremely durable as well as tamper-resistant. After the primary concern for patient safety, facility designers and managers need to consider product performance and suitability that will hold up to years of intensive (and perhaps unpredictable) use, as well as frequent cleaning and disinfecting with harsh detergents.
Architect and consultant James Hunt, AIA, NCARB, says there is “no one size fits all solution,” but he offers several options that could work in a number of applications, as well as for a range of budgets.
16 Mar
Video Visitation Technology – Jail System Counts the Benefits
Corrections officers working in jails that utilize the new video visitation systems have high praise for the technology which benefits both staff and inmates, but in different ways.
Benefits of Video Visitation
As recently reported, the Weber County Jail in Utah felt an immediate positive impact when it made the switch from contact visitation to video visitation. Among the benefits described by corrections staff is a reduction of risk to guards and other personnel, a decrease in noise levels inside the jail, and a greater sense of calm among inmates. Norix InteleStation® cabinetry provides a secure housing for the sophisticated electronic telecommunications equipment.
8 Mar
6 Key Building Attributes for Psychiatric Hospitals and Treatment Facilities
Behavioral health care facilities are among the most regulated of building types, according to the Whole Building Design Guide, a program of the National Institute of Building Sciences. In addition to state and local building codes, behavioral health facilities that treat Medicare patients must also meet federal standards. To be accredited, facilities are required to meet the standards of several national agencies such as the JCAHO, and the NFPA; comply with congressional mandates such as the ADA (as well as other accessibility guidelines), and HIPPA, as well as volumes of other guidelines and standards covering operations, maintenance, air quality, and more.
Another set of healthcare building attributes that are not regulated, but are of great consequence to the building’s owners, the staff that works there, and the patients in treatment deal with the economic realities of construction, programming considerations, and patient welfare. The Whole Building Design Guide for psychiatric facilities identifies the 6 key building attributes as follows:
29 Feb
Outdated Fire and Police Stations: Should Local Governments Renovate or Replace?
Many currently used fire and police stations in the U.S. were built during the time when police officers and fire fighters only needed one bathroom – the Men’s room, decades before indoor air quality was studied, before energy-efficient mechanical systems reduced operational costs, and before high tech communications required greater power capacity and fail-safes. Additionally, as residences or businesses may have shifted from one part of town to another, or traffic configurations changed, some stations are geographically or logistically mismatched with the populations they serve.
Listen to a podcast for advice from an architect specializing in fire and rescue…