CS at HCD 2024
Wow, HCD. We always have fun, but this year was something else! We are passionate about helping keep healthcare environments clean, welcoming, and healing, so now that we’re home from Indianapolis and reflecting on the experience, we want to share some of the topics, solutions, and trends that we noticed came up in conversation the most.
You were curious about curtains. Privacy curtains are so ubiquitous in healthcare that it’s easy to overlook how much they can vary or how much energy goes into maintaining them. CS is the only manufacturer to make all components of privacy curtains and track systems, and we have options for you. Want your staff to have the easiest time removing curtains for cleaning? On the Right Track® gets it done in seconds. Trying to create privacy or just plain quiet in a crowded area? CS HUSH Curtain® will blow your mind. Need it all to coordinate? We have our own fabric line, including disposables.
You went all-in on sustainability. Sustainability was a major theme across the entire tradeshow, and we tried to bring it to life in several ways. In case you weren’t at HCD, here is how a visit to the CS booth could have gone:
1. Arrive just in time for one of the popular bee presentations.
2. Answer a question correctly during the presentation and win a bee hotel.
3. Explore the products around the booth and chat with one of us to learn about our most recent sustainability milestone—updating the formula for our legendary Acrovyn® wall protection to include post-recycled content.
4. Grab a marker and indicate which sustainability “bucket” is most important to you. Climate health received the most votes, followed by human health and circularity. This type of feedback helps us recognize what people are thinking about as they pursue projects and certifications, which means we can evolve our solutions accordingly.
5. Get ready to continue on the expo floor by departing with a swag bag made of recycled water bottles and containing items like wildflower seed cards.
Bonus points if you attended our talk at Solutions Theater, It Takes All of Us, an overview of everyone’s role in sustainability.
You got excited about innovative design. We’re nerds about innovation. It turns out you are too, and we couldn’t be happier. Due to its sheer size, our curved door got a lot of attention in the booth. What made it a showstopper, though, were its healthcare-specific benefits. Feedback from nurses was critical to us when designing it, and the resulting curved door assists them every day by providing extended sightlines into patient rooms. Plus, it slides instead of swings, meaning it saves space in small rooms and is easier to open and closer for those on crutches or in wheelchairs.
This opened the door—pun intended—to discussions about our other doors (we have a bunch!) and their beneficial healthcare applications. Need extra safety features in behavioral health? Try barrier-resistant. Radiology area? Lead-lined. ER? You’ll want Acrovyn Doors by Design™ so wayfinding graphics are built right in.
Every conversation we get to have at a tradeshow educates us in some way on how to be more useful to our customers. (For example, one tiny tidbit that came out of a conversation—when designing for elder care facilities, opt for oval-shaped handrails instead of round; they’re easier to grip.) Our favorite part of HCD was genuinely having the opportunity to talk with everyone who stopped by the booth. We were blown away by how engaged you all were.
Thank you for taking an interest in CS—you asked great questions and provided us with the kind of insights that help us elevate our existing products and engineer new solutions. As always, we are proud to be pursuing better with you and for you.