PORT TOWNSEND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As healthcare facilities around the world look for effective ways to battle viruses and bacteria that can lurk on high-touch surfaces, Jefferson Healthcare has taken a leap into the future with a LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robot that quickly destroys microscopic pathogens in hard-to-clean places. Named ELISA, the robot is already hard at work -- quickly disinfecting rooms inside the hospital, which is the first healthcare facility on the peninsula to deploy a LightStrike robot.
With the world’s focus on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and recognizing that superbugs are becoming increasingly resistant to cleaning chemicals, antibiotics, and even some hand sanitizers, healthcare facilities are turning to new technology to enhance their cleaning protocols. Microorganisms such as Clostridioides difficile (C.diff), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), often dwell on high-touch surfaces in healthcare facilities.
Manufactured by Xenex Disinfection Services, the world leader in ultraviolet (UV) disinfection for healthcare facilities, LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots use pulsed xenon to create intense bursts of broad spectrum UV light that quickly destroy bacteria and viruses on surfaces. The UV disinfection robot works quickly and does not require warm-up or cool-down time, so the hospital is able to disinfect dozens of rooms per day. Forty-five peer-reviewed studies have been published validating the efficacy of the LightStrike robot disinfection technology. The LightStrike room disinfection robot is proven to deactivate Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, on surfaces in two minutes.
“Excellent health care is our top priority and ensuring that people visiting our health care facilities are entering the best possible environment is part of our commitment to them,” said Nichole Beal, environmental services manager. “We want people to come in and seek treatment, and providing them with the cleanest facility possible is an important step in making them feel comfortable.”
The robot is operated by facility cleaning staff and will not replace valuable employees. LightStrike is being used to disinfect a wide variety of rooms at Jefferson Healthcare, including patient rooms, isolation rooms, ORs, Emergency Department, restrooms, and radiology.
About Xenex
Xenex is a world leader in innovative UV technology-based disinfection strategies and solutions. Frost & Sullivan named Xenex the 2020 Global Company of the Year for its patented technology and being at the vanguard of the fight against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Xenex's mission is to enable its partners to save lives and reduce suffering by destroying the deadly microorganisms that can cause infections. Xenex is backed by well-known investors that include EW Healthcare Partners, Piper Sandler, Malin Corporation, Battery Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II, Tectonic Ventures and RK Ventures. For more information, visit xenex.com.
About Jefferson Healthcare
Jefferson County Public Hospital District No. 2, doing business as Jefferson Healthcare, is a DNV-accredited, fully integrated health care system providing services to over 29,000 residents of east Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. The hospital is a fully-accredited 25-bed Critical Access Hospital under CMS guidelines, with complete 24-hour coverage by a physician staff of hospitalists. Top-rated services include: 24-hour emergency department, laboratory services, acute care and intensive care units, family birth center, the latest in digital imaging and a comprehensive array of respiratory, physical, speech and occupational rehabilitation therapies. In addition, Jefferson Healthcare has clinics located in and around the hospital and local communities including a full-service orthopedic clinic and an oncology clinic administering infusion services of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other vital treatments. Outpatient specialty clinics provide wound care, sleep medicine, Coumadin and anticoagulation, and dermatology services. Jefferson Healthcare has the latest equipment in diagnostic imaging for outpatient and inpatient radiology services. The primary care clinics and the outpatient surgery and endoscopy center are located near the hospital in Port Townsend and in the surrounding communities of Port Ludlow and Quilcene, Washington. Primary care clinics provide pediatrics, family medicine, obstetrics, women’s health and internal medicine. Additional specialty clinics provide cardiology and pulmonary, nephrology and urological surgery and pelvic floor reconstruction. A broad range of support groups and community education programs exist to round out Jefferson Healthcare’s total approach to patient wellness. Jefferson Healthcare ensures no person is discriminated against on the basis of age, race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state, or local law.
