Snap-on panels improve hospital privacy

Published On: March 1, 2008

Recuperating patients at the Palm Beach, Fla., Veterans Affairs Medical Center won’t have to watch out for falling housekeeping staff. Health regulations require facilities to change and wash privacy curtains if even a small portion is soiled. Unhooking the curtains from ceiling tracks can be treacherous, and endless washing is expensive. Woman-owned Cubicle Curtain Factory, West Palm Beach, Fla., developed a snappy way to reduce maintenance costs at the V.A.: Simply 66, a snap-on system allowing replacement of panels instead of entire curtains.

0308_Sw5_1“With Simply 66, hospital personnel can go through the facility with a cart loaded with clean panels and replace soiled 66-inch panels only as needed, one at a time, affording savings to hospitals in labor and laundry costs,” says Karen Serio, vice president of government sales at Cubicle Curtain Factory. A special snap allows for an inexpensive antimicrobial liner to be snapped to the back of the curtain to protect the fabric from pathogens. The liner can either be wiped down or removed and replaced.

The company offers a variety of privacy options for hospitals and health-care facilities. (See www.cubiclecurtainfactory.com for more information.) An added benefit: a percentage of all sales are donated to breast cancer research initiatives. Cubicle Curtain Factory products also appear on the silver screen as props and backdrops for HBO’s “The Sopranos,” NBC’s “Law & Order SVU,” the movie “The Lovely Bones,” starring Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg, and “Hancock,” starring Will Smith.