Polyflor SA recently assisted the Gauteng Department of Health, global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Surgeons for Little Lives, a local non-profit organisation, by supplying state-of-the-art flooring and wall protection for the newly completed Paediatric Surgical Outpatient and Parental Sleep-Over Facility at Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwaneth Academic Hospital.
The new clinic officially opened its doors at the beginning of December 2017 and caters for infants and children with paediatric surgical conditions, providing the first integrated service offering support for families of young patients.
According to a media statement on the project issued by Gauteng Health, the hospital’s paediatric surgery department currently draws patients from across the northern half of South Africa, as well as numerous patients from Sub-Saharan Africa, on account of its world-class care. However, the facilities required essential improvement to appropriately serve the catchment population of in excess of 15 million people. Thanks to corporate funding and support received, this new facility will now be able to support 1,500 outpatients and 130 inpatients per month. In addition, the centre will house a parental sleep-over facility, allowing children the opportunity to have family support while admitted as inpatients to the hospital, often for prolonged periods of time.
Tandy Coleman, CEO of Polyflor, states that they were very excited about partnering on this project which was designed by global private hospital group Mediclinic.
“We are passionate about giving back to a community and an industry that has supported us for a long time. For this reason, we were happy to donate some of the products at no cost where possible, or to make it available to the developers at a greatly discounted price to help them maximise their budget as much as possible,” she says.
Commenting on the success of the project, Prof. Jerome Loveland, Chairman of the Board, Surgeons for Little Lives says: “We have worked hard to see this project materialise, turning a pipe dream into reality. We are confident that this Outpatient Clinic and Parental Sleep-Over Facility will play an important role in improving access to quality healthcare for children, overcoming infrastructural and capacity challenges as well as improving resources for nurses and doctors.
The outpatient department will take our clinical care, training and research to the next level. By providing support facilities for caregivers and family members, we are not only decreasing the anxiety levels for children, but also alleviating some of the day-to-day workload of nursing staff who have previously provided motherly duties while patients were unable to be present at the hospital.”
Polyflor vinyl flooring is a natural choice for use in hospitals and strict hygiene zones owing to the product’s superior cleanability. The seamless vinyl sheeting and easy, yet effective maintenance regime that these floors offer, ensure limited ability for microbes to settle and grow, leading to excellent and critically important top-class hygiene. Polyflor’s Pearlazzo PUR flooring in bright and happy colours such as Ocean Ripple, Chalk Burst, Lemon Ice and Alpine Meadow were installed in various parts of the unit, whilst Polysafe Verona PUR in Horizon Blue was used in the areas where wet slip-resistant functionality was required.
“We also supplied the new Gradus range of wall protection that was used extensively on walls, doors, corners and pillars. Not only do these guards protect interior building surfaces from damage caused by the general flow of wheeled and pedestrian traffic, but are also used with great success to provide a cross-cultural, cross-language means of way-finding and communication throughout the new facility,” Tandy expands.
The use of bright and bold colours such as Poppy, Bamboo, Straw, Rose Quartz, Iris and Melon were also echoed in consulting room door cut-outs to assist patients and parents in understanding which room they should go to and making it easy for them to find their way.
“It is remarkable what can be achieved when various players come together and support the development of the healthcare sector across key areas. Polyflor SA is incredibly proud to have played a small part in bringing about this new and incredibly important local community health facility that will be very meaningful in the lives of patients and will provide much-needed comfort for their families,” Tandy concluded.
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