November 17, 2015
Nemschoff Wins Best of Competition and Two Gold Nightingale Awards at Healthcare Design 2015 Conference

Highlights

  • Nemschoff’s Ava Recliner named Best of Competition in Nightingale Awards at HCD 2015
  • Ava Recliner, designed by 5d Studio for Nemschoff, wins Gold Nightingale Award in Patient Seating category
  • Nemschoff’s Easton Multiple Seating takes home Gold Nightingale Award for Guest/Lounge Seating
  • Nemschoff recognized for product design and innovation by Healthcare Design, Contract, and the Center for Health Design

For the second year in a row, one of Nemschoff’s new products took home top honors in the prestigious Nightingale Awards at the annual Healthcare Design Expo and Conference. Presented by Healthcare Design and Contract in partnership with the Center for Health Design, the Nightingale Awards recognize contributions to the healthcare built environment through product design and innovation that contributes to healing. At HCD 2015, held in Washington, DC. from November 14-17, Nemschoff’s Ava Recliner was named Best of Competition, and also received the Gold Award for Patient Seating. Another new introduction from Nemschoff, Easton Multiple Seating, received the Gold Award for Guest/Lounge Seating.

Nightingale winners are selected by a jury of seasoned healthcare design professionals and healthcare facility managers, based on the product’s contribution to a healing environment, functionality, quality and durability, aesthetics and style, pricing, and innovation.

“Receiving these Nightingale awards is extremely satisfying, as they recognize Nemschoff’s expertise with design for patients and families, and highlight how effective design can elevate the human experience of care. Whether in a waiting area or a treatment room, the physical environment affects how you feel in that space,” said Louise McDonald, President of Herman Miller Healthcare. “We strive to design solutions that better support patients, their families, and caregivers by understanding their real-life challenges. Many of our innovations are inspired by collaborating with our customers, whose unique perspectives and insights inform the end results.”

Best of Competition-winning Ava Recliner, designed by David Ritch and Mark Saffell of 5d Studio for Nemschoff, delivers an intuitive seating experience for patients, one that provides exceptional comfort and adjustability to attune to an individual’s acuity level and physical condition. By studying workflow in different care environments, and incorporating input from nurses and clinicians on the key demands of today’s healthcare experience, the Ava Recliner emerged as a chair that thoughtfully combines scale, function, comfort, and use in a comprehensive package. For caregivers, thoughtful features such as dual arm controls, pivoting arms to facilitate side transfers, central brake and steer, and a reverse recline enhance functionality and respond to their needs. Ava’s small footprint and easy mobility makes the most of even minimal space, while an open design and enclosed casters are optimized for cleanability.

“Ava was developed in the field with nurses, and driven by their requirements and feedback. We are thrilled to see our collective efforts recognized with the Best in Competition Nightingale Award, but more so, we are proud to see Ava advance the state of the art in healthcare seating and to bring meaningful, useful improvements to the healthcare professionals we rely on every day,” said Gary Cruce, Director New Product Development, Nemschoff.

Gold Award winner Easton Multiple Seating is a modern system that makes for a more accommodating and comfortable waiting experience. With the potential for 24/7 use, Easton was designed to deliver high capacity at a smaller scale, while providing simple conveniences to users, from coordinating freestanding and connecting tables, to power outlets and Easy Access chairs that offer a taller seating height for those who are physically challenged. Durable metal construction provides lasting performance, and an open, sled-base design makes it easy to keep the seating area clean.

Of Easton’s win, Cruce said, “We are extremely proud to have Easton singled out for recognition. Nemschoff’s tradition of excellence continues with a straightforward product that is designed to address the performance requirements of today’s healthcare environments, while enhancing the overall waiting experience through comfort and attention to thoughtful details.”

Notable highlights of the Herman Miller Healthcare and Nemschoff booth at the Healthcare Design 2015 Conference and Expo, Ava and Easton will be available for order entry in early 2016.

About Nemschoff
Nemschoff, a Herman Miller company, provides innovative furnishings for healthcare and other high-use environments. With equal emphasis on style and performance, Nemschoff solutions combine high-quality materials and construction, thoughtful features, and unparalleled comfort, into a unique form of design that has become the preferred choice for equipping healthcare environments. Founded in 1950, with headquarters in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Nemschoff believes that people make a difference, things should be built to last, and design can improve the way we work, heal, and live.

About Herman Miller Healthcare
Herman Miller Healthcare brings together the comprehensive offerings of Herman Miller, Geiger, and Nemschoff, to help healthcare organizations and their partners create environments for people to work well, get well, and live well. Driven by a deep commitment to research-based, problem-solving design, they collaborate with industry thought leaders and world class designers to inspire, develop, and manufacture innovative furnishings and equipment centered on the needs of the people who work throughout healthcare systems, and the people they serve. With 80 years of combined healthcare industry experience, and a team of clinical and workplace strategists, Herman Miller Healthcare offers a suite of solutions that improve the work and healing experience wherever care is delivered, supported, or administered.

About Herman Miller
Herman Miller is a globally recognized provider of furnishings and related technologies and services. Headquartered in West Michigan, the global company has relied on innovative design for over 100 years to solve problems for people wherever they work, live, learn, and heal. Herman Miller’s designs are part of museum collections worldwide, and the company is a past recipient of the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. Known and respected for its leadership in corporate social responsibility, Herman Miller has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the past 12 years, and has earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s top rating in its Corporate Equality Index for the past eight years. In fiscal 2014-15, the company generated $2.14 billion in revenue and employed over 7,000 people worldwide. Herman Miller trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MLHR.