A Unique Stool Designed for Hospice Comfort

Ian Adler displays the Yip Stool that he dedicated to his mother’s memory.

Ian Adler hopes that his Yip Stool will eventually serve a simple, yet profound purpose. While visitors gather around the bedside of an ailing loved one, Ian wants to offer them some comfort — quite literally. Instead of standing, mulling, or hovering over hospital bed side rails, they might instead sit comfortably on his stool to spend quality time together.

Ian and his family do their best to surround his dying mother, a scene which would later inspire him to create comfortable seating for families.

Ian’s grief following his mother’s death moved him to create one-of-a-kind furniture for families of hospice patients. Ian then made a vow to dedicate his industrial design thesis at Parsons School of Design to the cause. His main objective: to create a warm, inviting, and grounding space in facilities and hospitals for families. In the YouTube video of his thesis presentation, Ian explains to the audience of professors and peers, “Fundamentally it’s about people feeling comfortable enough when they are visiting that person they are saying goodbye to that it could really be something that is very much about connecting. It will still be hard, intense, and sad but there are opportunities for joy in these moments.”

The Yip Stool Comes to Life

Ian says the Yip Stool serves as a seat of honor for family sitting vigil with their dying loved one.

After some grief-stricken setbacks and a few furniture design trials and errors, Ian ultimately created a stool prototype. As an industrial design student, he also needed to focus on its appearance, functionality, and manufacturability. Since the stool would be utilized in clinical settings, it had to be lightweight, nonporous, water resistant, inflammable and movable, as it would be disinfected and stored away after each use.

Ian used UV-coated plywood for the Yip stool’s foldable frame construction as he felt it exuded more warmth than aluminum or the standard gray putty plastic commonly used in medical settings. The frame is topped with a 16-inch memory foam cushion covered in a polyester nylon blend. There are two wooden handles to carry or move it. Ian also thinks they may also be useful for someone to brace themselves during difficult moments. And folding the stool to pack it away may also help take up the negative space while a family member is saying goodbye to a loved one.

A depiction of how the Yip Stool may eventually be utilized in a hospital setting.

The Future for the Yip Stool

After some initial feedback from different-sized family, friends and death doulas, Ian improved upon his prototype. He has since professionally manufactured the Yip Stool. Although not yet field tested, healthcare professionals have expressed their belief that Ian’s stool could make a positive difference in clinical environments. He is currently waiting to hear from The Mount Sinai Hospital on whether or not they will accept a donation of three Yip Stools to their hospice unit and provide feedback.

Although Ian admits working on this project has been challenging, he is hopeful that his design will improve end-of-life experiences for many families. He says, “Caring is a creative act. We can do better. We can die better.” And with that sentiment, Ian also plans to undergo death doula training sometime in the future.