His strength sapped by congestive heart failure and diabetes, Neil Christensen still had one wish.

"I wanted to stand on my own two feet and walk again," he says. That was no easy task. Christensen's health problems usurped his ability to stand, let alone walk, without support.

Along came an impressive new piece of ergonomic equipment used by health care professionals at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. A specially designed stand-assist lift device enabled Christensen first to stand and then to walk.

"The machine made all the difference," says Christensen, 46, of Des Moines, Iowa. "I was determined to walk again. It helped get me up and going." Christensen's story gladdens the hearts of staff members who led an effort to acquire some 665 pieces of safety-oriented patient transfer equipment. The key players included Eric Briesemeister, safety manager for UI Hospitals and Clinics; Karen Stenger, an advanced practice nurse; and LouAnn Montgomery, associate director of Nursing Education.

They were members of a task force that studied the science of health care ergonomics and the patient handling needs of nurses, physical therapists, dietary services representatives, housekeepers, and others. Hospital leadership supported the effort, which helped UI Hospitals and Clinics become one of the nation's first academic medical centers to develop a broad-based ergonomics equipment program for patient handling.

The team's ergonomic expertise is so highly respected that other hospitals from around the nation often call seeking insights and advice. "This is the biggest safety initiative in health care in the past 10 years," Briesemeister says. "Just like needle-stick safety, transfer equipment will forever change how patients and their caregivers interact."

Stenger says the new equipment does as much or more for staff members as it does for patients. "Ordinary tasks such as lifting and moving a patient from a bed to a chair to the bathroom and back into bed, can result in a debilitating back or other musculoskeletal injuries," she says. "This is a big step in the right direction."

Montgomery says, "Some units perform up to 100 patient lifts per day. It's been a real positive addition to the hospital and a promise of better things to come."

Key leaders in the quest to acquire safer patient transfer equipment include (from left) registered nurses Lou Ann Montgomery and Karen Stenger, along with Eric Briesemeister, safety manager for UI Hospitals and Clinics.