Steelcase's Healthcare Company Captures 'Best of Healthcare Furniture' Category For Second Straight Year

CHICAGO, June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Opus(TM) Overbed Table, from Nurture(TM) by Steelcase won the Gold Award in the Healthcare: Furniture category in the Best of NeoCon 2007 competition, which recognizes state-of-the-art product design, technological innovation and environmental sustainability.

This is the second straight year that Nurture by Steelcase, a company dedicated to healthcare environments, has taken the Gold Award in Healthcare Furniture. In 2006, Nurture's Opus(TM) Casegoods were recognized with the Gold award in Healthcare: Furniture.

The Opus(TM) Overbed Table is more than just a place for patient meals. It supports nearly every activity in the room. By observing how doctors, nurses, family and patients use the table for nearly everything that happens in the patient room, Nurture's design for the new Opus(TM) Overbed Table focuses on accommodating these activities in a simple, but thoughtful way.

The new design has two top surfaces: one stationary at standing height, ready for care providers; and the other a height adjustable patient surface with non handed concaved shape and soft corner radii for patient comfort. This table is highly durable through the use of appropriate plastics acting as bumpers, and edges that can't be picked at by restless patients. The tabletop surfaces are made of thermo fused material with no visible seams; it is easily cleaned.

"This product is a testament to the philosophy Nurture is built upon," said Michael Love, president of Nurture. "We develop research-driven, evidence-based solutions that become integral parts of the healing process."

Nurture Director of Product Development designer Alan Rheault said, "We're particularly proud that this product was singled out for recognition. The Overbed Table is so critical to the patient and careprovider experience, yet it really hasn't been given the attention it deserves. We feel the Opus(TM) Overbed Table brings significant design innovation and functionality to a place where it matters most -- the bedside."

Nurture officially launched as a company at last year's NeoCon, but the company is not new to healthcare. Years of research and partnerships with leading healthcare providers allow the company to tailor a wide variety of environmental solutions to specific settings.

The Nurture by Steelcase family of companies, including: Brayton, Designtex, Details, Metro, Polyvision, Softcare, Turnstone, and Vecta provides a comprehensive portfolio that supports a wide variety of healthcare environments.

In addition to the Overbed Table award, Details new Height-Adjustable Series 7.1 table, used by Nurture in the development of ergonomically sound radiology reading rooms, won a Best of NeoCon Silver Award in the Worksurfaces: Height-Adjustable category.

Sponsored by Contract magazine, the International interior Design Association (IIDA), Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI) and the McMorrow Report, the Best of NeoCon awards recognize the top new products displayed at NeoCon. There were more than 400 products entered into the 2007 competition.

About Nurture:

Nurture by Steelcase is a company focused on healthcare environments and how products within these environments can help make them more comfortable, efficient and conducive to the healing process. For more information, visit http://www.nurturebysteelcase.com/.

Source: Nurture by Steelcase

CONTACT: Libby Ferin of Nurture by Steelcase, +1-616-248-7038,
eferin@steelcase.com; or Michael Pflughoeft of Kohnke Hanneken Advertising,
Inc., +1-414-271-1314, mikeyp@khmojo.com, for Nurture by Steelcase

Web site: http://www.kohnkehanneken.com/
http://www.nurturebysteelcase.com/