Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Installs Adult Changing Table Stations
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It’s a need many haven’t considered — adult changing tables. These stations can make all the difference for a caregiver. And Sky Harbor Airport is already on it.
Walk into almost any bathroom at an airport and you’ll find a changing table — for a baby.
But if you’re a caregiver for a person with a disability or an aging parent or spouse and you need to change that person, you might end up on the floor.
That’s exactly what happened to one couple and their son more than 14 years ago.
"So, they left a note and I called them and talked with them and discussed the needs that they had to be able to change an adult person," said Norbert Senftleben.
Senftleben was an architect at Sky Harbor before retiring from the city of Phoenix. He came up with a design for an adult changing table and took it to the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues.
"And then of course we did not have a prototype," Senftleben said. "So here at Sky Harbor, the facilities and services division had carpenters. We worked together and produced this first prototype."
The table looks like an oversized bench. It sits in the corner and has grab bars at the head and side.
Senftleben’s design was the first of its kind to be installed at a U.S. airport.
The tables aren’t required by the Americans with Disabilities Act according to Mary Beth Thompson, who is with Sky Harbor. But she said some states, like California, have passed legislation that will change that, at least locally.
"By 2020 its going to be required on new construction to have changing tables so they're looking for input on prototypes that are already in existence, so Norbert’s plan is out there and being looked at very closely," Thompson said.
There are currently 12 adult changing stations throughout Sky Harbor, including in the newly renovated Terminal 3.
