LIGATURE-RESISTANT bathroom doors
for Penn Highlands Dubois

Hospital: Penn Highlands DuBois 
Care provider: Penn Highlands Healthcare
Project Type: New build
Architect: KTH Architects, Inc.
Mental Health discipline: Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Products supplied: Ligature-Resistant Bathroom Doors

Penn Highlands DuBois has a long-known history of delivering expert health and wellness care to their local community. The organization earned a reputation for innovative therapies and modern facilities. They provide compassionate inpatient and outpatient care throughout central Pennsylvania.

Their newly built mental health facility is set to open its doors in July 2022, providing outpatient and inpatient psychiatric care for various behavioral health conditions, including bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, and borderline personality disorder.

The doors remain the highest risk factor of suicide within inpatient behavioral health units, so they were keen on selecting the safest door solution for their patient's bathroom doors.

Penn Highlands Healthcare has used shower curtains to mimic the safety of ligature-resistant doors in bathrooms in the past; however, they found it to be logistically challenging. The frequent need for replacing damaged curtains and difficulty keeping them clean would disrupt the work of staff and take precious clinical time away from what's important - the patients.

While researching ligature-resistant doors for Penn Highlands DuBois, the organization considered several options. Here is why they've selected our product.

Creating a therapeutic mental health environment

One of the reasons that the team at Penn Highlands Healthcare chose our bathroom door was a range of leaf options designed to improve patients' recovery.

We're all greatly affected by our surroundings. They can profoundly impact our mood, thoughts, and feelings. Art has the power to transform and humanize any harsh clinical environment.

The designs that were chosen by the team at Penn Highlands Dubois were not ordinary ones! Both "Flags and Flares" and "Geometric Rainbow" were designed by talented artists from Hospital Rooms, specifically with mental health patients in mind. Hospital rooms are a mental health charity that aims to transform cold, clinical spaces into beautiful therapeutic environments for patients.

Read an article about the healing power of art here

Choosing the safest ligature-resistant bathroom door solution

Penn Highlands Healthcare found our ligature-resistant door solution for bathrooms the safest option currently available. With no known ligature points and over 4000 doors installed in challenging behavioral health environments, there are still no reported suicides on our doors. 

The newly built Penn Highlands DuBois behavioral health service unit is due to open its door to patient's July 2022. We're delighted that they've decided to roll out our Ligature-Resistant Bathroom Door throughout their inpatient facilities and can now take advantage of:

• Improved patient privacy and dignity without compromising safety
• A therapeutic environment designed for recovery
• The safest solution for both patients and clinical staff
• The solution that meets the practical needs of an inpatient behavioral health facility