T.J. Health Pavilion Project

Project Specs:

Location: Glasgow, Kentucky
Space: 227,000 sq. ft.
Buildings: 3
Employees: 1,000

T.J. Samson Hospital has served the residents of Glasgow, Kentucky and the surrounding communities since 1926. To keep in step with the changing healthcare environment, the hospital began a three-year journey to construct a facility to focus on outpatient services.

Centrally located in Glasgow, T.J. Health Pavilion emphasizes its commitment to the community by providing a community center; meeting space for businesses, organizations and support groups; and a perimeter hallway that doubles as a public walking track.

Challenged to keep costs down, T.J. Samson launched an RFP process to identify vendors to provide cost-effective, American-made furnishing options. T.J. Samson selected ODP Business Solutions™ Workspace Interiors to provide furniture solutions for the lobby, lounge and waiting areas, doctors’ offices and exam rooms.

Consolidating vendors maximized efficiencies

Consolidating vendors helped control costs and standardize furniture solutions. Dark wood combined with an earthy look and feel provided a calming environment throughout the facility.

More and more, medical facilities are challenged to reduce costs and be more efficient. Two years before work began on the pavilion, the hospital formed a committee to investigate controlling costs through furniture standardization. Prior to this, the hospital purchased furniture from multiple sources.

Workspace Interiors advised the hospital on appropriate products and leveraged its contract with group purchasing organization (GPO) Premier/ASCEND to maximize discounting. The contract also enabled the committee to identify additional furniture standards for the pavilion and lock in additional discounts.

“We worked to change a longtime culture that had always done business the same way,” said Angela Clay, Director of Materials Management for T.J. Samson. “Workspace Interiors showed us that by consolidating vendors we could leverage the best discounting and more easily manage furniture purchases.”

Function with modern appeal. Furniture with muted earth tone fabrics creates inviting spaces, while slight variations in color palettes help define areas.

“We wanted it to be a showplace — but functional, as well.”

Angela Clay, Director of Materials Management for T.J. Samson

T.J. Health Pavilion is located inside a former Wal-Mart. That fluorescent environment was replaced by an earthy look and feel with a modern appeal to provide a calming environment for patients.

Workspace Interiors solicited input from T.J. Samson and the architecture and design firm over the course of one year. Workspace Interiors recommended earth tones, dark wood finishes, stone and blue fabrics to bring in a water element. Slightly different color palettes identified each department and its waiting room, with major consistencies throughout for standardization. The chosen fabrics and finishes were durable and easy to clean.

American-made furniture was important to T.J. Samson Hospital. Waiting areas provide attractive, comfortable seating with durable finishes.

Workspace Interiors understood the importance of providing American-made furniture solutions. The team recommended Jasper, Indiana-based National Furniture for the majority of the furnishings. National has a robust line of American-made furniture for medical facilities.

Workspace Interiors took T.J. Samson on a two-day tour of National Office Furniture's showroom and factory. T.J. Samson appreciated that both entities were headquartered in the same region of the country and had shared values.

“We are a rural, small community and we really believe in things made in the United States,” Clay said. “We were very impressed with the quality of the furniture National produced.”

Quality furniture solutions enhance the professional appearance of exam rooms and reception counters.

The lounge and waiting areas featured seating from National's versatile Timberlane^® and premier Eloquence^® collections. The exam rooms also featured Eloquence^® seating. For the doctor's offices, National's Captivate^® and Escalade^® desking provided and elegant and professional look and feel. Additional furnishing throughout included National's Flourish^® and WaveWorks^® desking for back office desking solutions.

The lobby featured a custom half-circle sofa with a wood back from Cumberland Furniture's Thick & Thin line. The curve of the sofa mimicked the curve underneath the stairwell where it sits. Workspace Interiors also recommended IDEON's Composium^® chair for the lobby area, in part because it offered an option for a gap where the seat and back meet, enabling easier cleansing.

Attractive, standardized furniture solutions.

High-height tables and chairs in the café serve as a comfortable gathering place for coffee or meals.

The café featured fun, high- and low-height tables and chairs. Local sepia-toned photos of Glasgow served as art, highlighting T.J. Samson's focus on and commitment to the community.

SitOnIt^® was selected for all task seating and became part of the hospital furniture standards. The hospital or pavilion could order one chair with no freight concerns, and all chairs had a lifetime warranty.

As the move-in date neared, Workspace Interiors worked with vendors to push the moving date back twice, for a total of three weeks, when the floors weren't ready. The manufacturers were very cooperative on furniture storage and price-holding. The Workspace Interiors team kept all parties updated every step of the way.

The T.J. Health Pavilion opened its outpatient facility with a warm, modern look and a strong commitment to the community it serves.

T.J. Health Pavilion opened its doors to staff and community excitement in May 2013. Patients appreciate the ease of a "one stop shop" for all their outpatient services, and the community is enjoying the sunlit indoor walking track.

“It's a beautiful building, and our employees love it”, Clay said. “Workspace Interiors bent over backward to get everything coordinated.”

Making your workplace work.

"Workspace Interiors took the burden off us having to worry about those day-to-day issues.”

Angela Clay / Director of Materials Management, T.J. Samson Hospital

Partner with Workspace Interiors to gain extensive expertise in existing trends, proven solutions and innovative products so your team can benefit from a working environment conducive to productivity, efficiency and success.

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