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Disability Needs Recognised with Change Table at Hospital
Media Release
Date: 6 January 2015
Disability Needs Recognised with Change Table at Waikato Hospital
Parenting rooms and baby change tables are commonplace in many facilities these days. However there is a growing need to provide change tables for older children and adults with disabilities, particularly in a hospital where they are likely to be visiting for a longer period of time.
Two complaints this year from care givers needing a suitable table in a private area prompted Waikato DHB’s Property and Infrastructure to find a solution.
Operations manager Michael FitzPatrick made it his mission to get the problem fixed.
“We learned that one caregiver had resorted to using the floor of the parenting room, because that was the only area suitable. And then we heard that staff had other enquiries from people looking for somewhere they could use. So there is obviously a need,” he says.
Taking that on board, Michael researched what was available and found a specifically designed fold-down adult change table that can handle a weight of up to 180kg.
“Like a baby change table, it attaches to the wall but it has to support a much heavier load, so we had some serious wall strengthening to do.”
The result is worth it. The new $8000 table is now installed in the Parent Room in Level 1 of the Meade Clinical Centre at Waikato Hospital, within the main toilet block, and the signage is up.
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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