IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MechoShade Systems Empowers Patients

Healing environments promote wellness by providing patients with a sense of control

National Harbor, Maryland, November 2008 — Today’s patient-focused design is being centered on individuals’ involvement in their own care. This includes control over their environments. MechoShade Systems designed a solution: the Bed Interface Unit to provide patients with the ability to operate motorized window shades from their bed without assistance.

Due to current rising health-care costs, finding ways to reduce expenses while providing better service to patients is the challenge. Research has shown that, when patients have a sense of control, their stress levels are reduced and wellness is fostered. In fact, it has also been shown that effective supportive design works hand-in-hand with pharmaceutical care and other medical technology and can reduce the recovery process. This means shorter hospital stays and happier patients.

The Bed Interface Unit’s simple one-button design, its providing patient empowerment, and its offering the ability to interface with the wiring of a hospital bed by a major manufacturer are features that made it a Nightingale Award winner. And manual MechoShades^® can include a LAM (Lift-Assist Mechanism) for patients with limited grip strength.

Another important wellness factor concerns lighting. The Bed Interface Unit’s simple one-button design makes it easy to raise the shades to bring in natural daylight or to lower the shades for brightness or glare reductions.

Creating an environment to promote wellness and to support a patient psychologically are key methods in reducing costs. Also, when patients have the ability to control their own environment, fewer employees are needed to assist patients; thus, operating costs are further reduced. In addition, there is evidence that patients without a view to the outside need more doses of strong narcotic pain drugs. Whereas, patients with a view more frequently requested weak analgesics such as acetaminophen. In hospital charge schedules, injections of strong analgesics usually are more expensive than oral doses of acetaminophen.

From patient and examining rooms to waiting and operating rooms, MechoShades^® and ElectroShades^® are the shades of choice by architects and designers serving the health-care community.

About MechoShade Systems, Inc.

MechoShade Systems, Inc., is the world’s leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of manual, motorized, and automated solar-shading systems. The company provides innovative solutions to meet the functional and aesthetic design needs of health-care facilities worldwide. The company’s shadecloths are antimicrobial, antibacterial, and fade resistant. The ThermoVeil^® 3000 Shadecloth Series, is a privacy weave which allows optimal sunlight and view during the day and privacy at night. Specifically designed for the health-care industry, the 3000 Series has won a Nightingale Award. One of MechoShade Systems’ newest products, EcoVeil^®, is the first-ever eco-effective solar shadecloth. MechoShade Systems has representation and distribution worldwide. Go to mechoshadesystems.com for more information and contacts.

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