Standard Textile’s game-changing AMY all-fabric privacy curtain and Newton chain-free solar shade win multiple Nightingale Awards
Winning products are engineered to revolutionize curtain management and shade control in healthcare environments
October 16, 2024 — Standard Textile Co., a global provider of healthcare and hospitality textiles, garnered several awards for its innovative healthcare products at The 2024 Nightingale Awards during last week’s Healthcare Design (HCD) Conference & Expo. The Nightingale Awards recognize products that advance the built environment in healthcare. Named after Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing, the awards evaluate products based on their contribution to clinical or operational outcomes, aesthetics, innovation, durability, functionality and overall quality.
AMY Privacy Curtain System
Standard Textile’s newly launched AMY Privacy Curtain System won the Nightingale Gold, Sustainability, and Best of Sustainability Awards in the category of Architectural Products: Non-Clinical. AMY is touted as the industry’s first all-fabric privacy curtain engineered to revolutionize curtain management in healthcare settings.
AMY addresses many of the challenges associated with traditional privacy curtains by eliminating metallic hooks, plastic carriers and other small parts that can break or wear over time. Its unique one-piece, all-fabric design simplifies the curtain change-out process, making it up to five times faster to hang than traditional curtains, significantly reducing time and labor for Environmental Services (EVS) teams.
Privacy curtains play a critical role in healthcare facilities, yet their proper maintenance, laundering, and replacement are often overlooked. Curtain replacement frequency can vary widely, influenced by facility type, labor constraints, and cleaning protocols. In fact, a study published in The American Journal of Infection Control found that 37 percent of facilities replace or launder their curtains only when visibly soiled.
We designed AMY to address the pain points that hospitals face with traditional curtains – time-consuming change-outs, tangled mesh and cumbersome components,” said Todd Steele, vice president of Interiors Group Sales and Business Development at Standard Textile. “Our goal was to simplify privacy curtain management, helping EVS teams focus on maintaining safer and more hygienic healthcare environments.”
AMY is compatible with most traditional track types, allowing healthcare facilities to standardize their curtain systems without the need for costly retrofitting.
Additionally, AMY helps create a quieter, more comfortable healing environment by dramatically reducing noise. Traditional curtains with plastic carriers can reach noise levels equivalent to a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer, while AMY is four times quieter, creating a more peaceful and comfortable space for patients and staff.
Feedback from staff at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas, emphasized the ease of change-outs, with one noting, “This design reduces time on the ladder, making it easy to take them down and put them back up.” Staff also appreciated the quieter operation, noting, “The fabric tabs reduce sound,” which enhances the patient comfort and healing environment. Overall, the team found AMY to be “much more durable and user-friendly” than traditional curtain systems.
Key design features include:
- All-fabric design: One piece curtain + mesh design is 100% fabric and fully launderable
- 100% simple: “Y-hook” design eliminates grommets, snaps, hooks, zippers and carriers
- Universal fit: Retrofits to virtually any existing track system, making standardization simpler than ever
- Silent comfort: Eliminates the harsh noises caused by traditional curtain carriers
- Improved Privacy: Features innovative closure system for quick and secure panel matching
- Human-centric design: Offers a quiet, sleek, and easy-to-use solution, eliminating the common frustrations associated with traditional privacy curtains
- Effortless change-outs: Up to 5x faster than traditional curtains, removing barriers for changeouts and increasing clean and safe spaces.
- Sustainability: Reusable product, launderable up to 100x, reducing waste. Standard Textile is committed to offering broad sustainable material options to meet individual property needs including privacy curtain materials with recycled materials, biodegradable, Oeko-Tex 100 certifiable, SEAQUAL, Trevira, under 1000ppm.
Newton Wand Chain-Free Solar Shade
Standard Textile’s Newton® Wand Chain-Free Solar Shade won the Nightingale Gold Award, Innovation Award, and the Best of Innovation in the Window Shading & Treatments category. The company’s “most elegant manual shade option,” Newton is designed to revolutionize shade control.
A chain-free solar shade experience
Gone are the days of unsafe, unappealing chains. The Newton offers a smooth, intuitive wand-controlled operation that brings elegance to your fingertips. This patented chain-free solar shade design simplifies operation, enhances durability, and improves product safety. Say goodbye to the hassles of traditional shades and welcome a new era of simplicity.
Choose from the standard wand or a more accessible loop wand as an ADA option. Both wands require less than 5 lbs. of force to operate, ensuring accessibility for all. Manual lowering is also possible by pulling on the bottom bar without risk of damage to system.
Enhancing window covering safety
Chains and cords pose inherent safety and injury risks, especially for small children and the elderly. The chain-free design of the Newton meets the industry-recognized safety standard (ANSI/WCMA A 100.1-2012) for window coverings. In addition, this innovative solar shade has been certified as “Best for Kids” by the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA).
Embrace elegance, durability, and accessibility with every pull of the wand. Experience the future of chain-free solar shades with the Newton.
Adding to the beauty, comfort and safety of healthcare interiors
In spaces where every detail matters, traditional window shades with chains and complicated mechanisms have long been a source of frustration. They are clunky, prone to tangling, unsafe, and often a poor fit for the environment. This challenge is particularly pressing in places where safety, accessibility, and aesthetics are essential.
The Newton Solar Shade was created to address these very challenges. With its chain-free, wand-operated design, Newton offers a smooth, intuitive experience that blends elegance with functionality. The shades are not only visually appealing but also incredibly durable and easy to use.
The Newton shades are designed to adapt to any space, from hospital rooms and public lobbies to meeting room spaces. The flexibility to pair sheer and blackout shades ensures the perfect light setting for any need. Plus, with custom print options, these shades can be tailored to match the unique design of any room.
Increasing safety in the built environment
Newton’s Non-friction module (clutch) allows users to lower the shade by the bottom hem bar, which is patient/user intuitive but would call product failure in traditional chain solar shades. The counterbalance shade system delivers smooth operation lowering and raising of shades with less than 5 lbs. of pull force, reducing the need to “yank” — another high fail point of traditional chain solar shades.
Wands can be operated from all angles in part to rubber gasket at top of wands, while traditional chains need to be mounted and have the potential to be ripped out of the wall or broken. The product is third-party tested with over 8 years of daily use. No motor eliminates broken motorized shades due to misuse of pulling on hem bar.
User- and staff-friendly
Newton offers durable, high-quality materials that ensure long-lasting performance. It can be tailored to fit different healthcare settings and room requirements, with options for both blackout and sheer shades. The chain-free, wand-operated design is user-friendly and minimizes maintenance issues. Newton meets ADA requirements and safety standards, ensuring a hassle-free procurement process for a cost-effective solution.
The easy ability to custom digitally print provides a surface for healing design or way-finding or patient communication.
Sustainable features
Newton offers sustainable shade cloth fabric options that include RoHS Lead Free, UL GREENGUARD Gold Certified, and Oeko-Tex Certified. Material options also include antimicrobial to help spread microbes. Materials including wands are highly cleanable to also help reduce pathogens and creates a cleaner environment for patients and staff.
Learn more about the AMY Privacy Curtain System and Newton Wand Chain-Free Solar Shade at Standard Textile. Founded in 1940, Standard Textile has more than 150 patents issued for its innovative products engineered to deliver durability, longevity and value. Standard Textile is a leading global provider of total solutions in the institutional textiles and apparel markets. Leveraging textile design, manufacturing and laundry expertise, and its global infrastructure, this company serves customers in the healthcare, hospitality, interiors, workwear and consumer markets worldwide.