So, I’m in this place and our meetings are on the 8th floor of one tower and I live on the 3rd floor of another tower. On Monday, I wandered around and figure out the layout of the building. I had found one set from the 3rd floor, but it only went to an emergency exit or the basement. The people working down there were clueless about the stairs.
Discussion with front desk person:
“Where are the stairs to get to my room?”
“Stairs?”
“Yes…to get from here to my room.”
“Um, I don’t know…hey, [other person in room next to the desk] where are the stairs to the rooms? … We think down the hall.”
“Great. Thanks. Where are the stairs to get to the meeting room?”
“You want one to the meeting room? That’s up 8 flights!”
“That’s okay. I’d rather use the stairs.”
“Um…those stairs there…”
“Great. Thanks.”
Well, it turns out that “those stairs there” don’t actually go all the way to the top. I have to change stairways on the 6th floor.
What is up with stairs now?? I mean, really…. I’ve had the hardest time finding stairs to use. In hotels, I understand that many people don’t want stairs. One would think that hospitals would encourage people to walk and not take elevators. But, NO, I can’t find them in most of the hospitals I’ve been in either.
Theories on why no one makes easy-access stairs any more?
Posted by Heather Voss at February 23, 2005 08:25 PMA very good question.
Posted by: Jane Ellen at February 24, 2005 07:41 AMBecause they fall and then they sue.
Posted by: Mike at February 24, 2005 02:07 PMAt my hospital stairs are a safety risk -- first for falls, and then because stairs would make a quicker escape for the patients from the locked psychiatric unit -- easier to catch them if they run off while they're waiting for the elevator. :)
What was weird was at the nursing home where I had my first job, the elevators were soooo slow, and besides, the residents needed priority so they could get around. So the staff often used the fire stairs, but the door was right on the main hallway where residents often hung out during the day. To keep confused and curious residents from going through the door to the stairwell, they stretched a fabric sign across the middle of the door that had a huge "STOP" sign in the middle that was attached with velcro. But it seemed weird to me that residents would see staff constantly coming in and out of that door, ripping down the sign and then putting it back; why wouldn't that just make you more curious? I seem to remember one resident actually couldn't take the suspense and went through the door anyway, taking down the sign just like the staff had been doing. Fortunately the staff intervened before she went careening down the stairs in her wheelchair....
Yeah. lack of stairs is annoying, especially when the elevators break down. Ugh.
Posted by: Andi at February 26, 2005 11:20 AM