A medical office should be easy to enter before a patient ever reaches the reception desk. For someone using a wheelchair, walker, scooter, or other mobility aid, a steep grade, awkward landing, or inaccessible entrance can create an unnecessary obstacle to care. Accessibility systems for medical office buildings help create a continuous route from parking and pedestrian areas to the building entrance while accommodating the needs of patients, visitors, and employees.
REDD Team manufactures modular aluminum wheelchair ramps, stairs, walkways, and related access products for healthcare and commercial facilities throughout the United States. Its systems are made from structural aluminum and can be configured around both permanent buildings and modular medical facilities.
Why Does Accessibility Matter So Much at a Medical Office?
Every commercial building needs to consider accessibility, but healthcare facilities serve an especially broad range of people.
A patient may arrive using a wheelchair after surgery. Someone else may have difficulty climbing steps because of an injury, chronic condition, or limited stamina. Parents may be maneuvering strollers, while caregivers may be assisting patients with walkers or other mobility equipment.
The entrance should not make an already difficult appointment harder.
Under the ADA Standards, accessible routes connect areas such as accessible parking spaces, passenger loading zones, sidewalks, and public transportation stops to an accessible entrance. That route can include walking surfaces, ramps, curb ramps, elevators, and platform lifts.
A ramp is therefore not an isolated piece of equipment. It is part of the route people use to get into and through the facility.
What Makes a Medical Office Ramp ADA Accessible?
A ramp has to do considerably more than bridge the height between the sidewalk and the doorway.
Under the ADA Standards, ramp runs generally cannot be steeper than a 1:12 slope. The clear width is normally at least 36 inches, and each individual ramp run is limited to a maximum rise of 30 inches. Level landings are required at the top and bottom of each run.
Those landings are particularly important at medical office entrances.
A person using a wheelchair needs enough room to reach the door, maneuver, and operate it without simultaneously trying to hold position on a slope. The ADA Standards specifically recognize the importance of level landing space at doorways.
REDD Team’s Universal Wheelchair Ramp System includes modular ramp sections, landings, legs, handrails, and railing configurations that can be arranged according to the building and required access route.
Why Are Landings and Turns Important?
Sometimes there simply is not enough room for one long, straight ramp.
A medical office may sit close to a parking area, sidewalk, neighboring building, landscaping, or another site feature. In those situations, the ramp may need to turn.
The ADA requires a level landing where ramp runs change direction. When the direction changes at a landing, the clear landing generally needs to measure at least 60 inches by 60 inches.
That space lets wheelchair users turn without having to maneuver on an incline.
Modular aluminum systems make these configurations easier to plan because sections and landings can be arranged into straight, L-shaped, switchback, or other layouts according to the available footprint.
The goal is not simply to squeeze a ramp beside the building.
It is to create a route people can comfortably use.
Why Choose Aluminum for a Healthcare Access System?
A medical facility entrance may see steady traffic every day.
It is also exposed to weather.
REDD Team manufactures its access systems from 6000-series structural aluminum. Aluminum is corrosion resistant, will not rot like wood, and does not require painting simply to protect the underlying material from rust.
That translates into relatively low maintenance over the life of the system.
Aluminum’s lower weight is another benefit during installation. Modular components can be transported and assembled more easily than many heavier alternatives, and REDD Team systems are designed to bolt together without requiring field welding.
This can be especially helpful when improving access at an operating medical practice where minimizing construction disruption matters.
What Happens When the Ramp Gets Wet?
Patients still have appointments when it rains.
Exterior ramps and landings therefore need walking surfaces that account for wet conditions. ADA requirements specify that ramp surfaces must meet applicable floor and ground-surface standards, and landings exposed to wet conditions must be designed to prevent water accumulation.
REDD Team’s aluminum ramp systems use slip-resistant walking surfaces designed for dependable traction in outdoor conditions.
That matters for wheelchair users, but it also benefits patients walking with canes, crutches, walkers, or assistance from a caregiver.
Accessibility improvements should help everyone move through the entrance with greater confidence.
Can Aluminum Ramps Work With Existing Medical Buildings?
Yes. A building does not necessarily need to be newly constructed to use a modular system.
REDD Team notes that its aluminum wheelchair ramps can be installed at existing commercial and healthcare buildings, including situations where concrete stairs are already present. That can make modular ramps useful during renovations, accessibility upgrades, or changes in how an entrance is used.
The system can also be disassembled and reconfigured if site requirements change later.
For a medical group leasing space or operating modular clinics, that flexibility can be valuable. The access equipment does not necessarily have to become obsolete simply because the building arrangement changes.
Should Stairs Be Included With the Ramp?
Often, yes. A ramp provides the accessible route, but some patients and employees may prefer a shorter stair approach.
REDD Team’s Universal Stair system can be used alongside its wheelchair ramp products to create an entrance serving different types of pedestrian traffic.
Planning both at the same time can also produce a more organized entrance.
Rather than installing stairs first and later trying to fit a ramp into the remaining space, the entire approach can be designed around the doorway, parking area, sidewalk, and expected traffic pattern.
Choose Accessibility Systems for Medical Office Buildings With the Entire Entrance in Mind
Effective accessibility systems for medical office buildings should make the trip from the accessible route to the entrance straightforward. Ramp slope and width matter, but so do landings, turns, handrails, traction, doorway clearances, and how the system connects with the surrounding site.
REDD Team manufactures American-made modular aluminum ramps, stairs, walkways, and other access products for healthcare, commercial, municipal, institutional, and other facilities. Its universal wheelchair ramp system can be configured for both existing and new buildings and adjusted to accommodate a variety of entrance layouts.
For help planning an accessible entrance for a medical office or healthcare facility, contact REDD Team at (800) 648-3696 or request a quote online. The team can review the elevation, available footprint, entrance configuration, and applicable requirements to develop an aluminum access system suited to the property.