Part 4: Health care facilities with high-performance windows and framing systems support patients, caregivers and communities

– Behavioral Care Considerations –

Unlike conventional windows, windows in behavioral and psychiatric specialty care facilities often must be designed to withstand high impacts from the interior, to contain patients, restrict their passage to unauthorized areas, or delay and frustrate escape attempts. These windows typically are specified as fixed units with insulated, laminated double or triple glazing and with integral, between-glass blinds.

Wausau 4000i-DT Series casement and fixed exterior windows, and 2187-DT Series interior accessory windows (IAWs) are tested to meet AAMA 501.8. This means they are subjected to 2,000 foot-pounds of energy, as imparted by the human impact “drop test” apparatus, to simulate shoulder impact of a 200-pound person moving at 25 feet per second.

When existing windows are weather-tight, IAWs provide an economical solution to enhance sound, energy, air and light control, along with human impact resistance. In new construction, IAWs can be added on to a curtain wall or storefront for integral blinds or for interior impact performance in hurricane or blast applications.

For more than 40 years, the Wausau DT Series has answered customers’ needs for window solutions in behavioral care and psychiatric facilities. Customized psychiatric fenestration systems also have been engineered through development programs with state agencies and their architectural consulting partners in New York, Missouri, Tennessee, Minnesota and Wisconsin.