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How St. Elizabeth Hospitals Keep Clean and Safe
EDGEWOOD, Ky. — St. Elizabeth Healthcare uses several methods to kill viral material in its examination rooms and hospitals in order to prevent the spread of disease.
The Northern Kentucky health network's infectious disease response team have been practicing a plan to combat the spread of diseases like coronavirus for years.
That includes Environmental Services Supervisor Teresa Cecil, who works every day to keep patient rooms clean and safe.
"I trust that the hospital has given us the tools we need to protect everybody," she said.
Among those tools: a patented vacuum that cleans particles as small as one-one-hundredth of a human hair, targeting dust that can harbor pathogens.
“On a daily basis, we vacuum every patient room, floors and ceilings,” said Environmental Services System Director Matthew Patterson.
Two times a shift, crews use an electrostatic sprayer to apply germicide approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Crews apply this germicide in common areas, lobbies, public restrooms, elevators and other high-traffic areas.
St. Elizabeth staff also use UVC systems which emit virus-killing ultraviolet light in isolation rooms, on wheelchairs and on other ways patients move around.
“It smells almost like a tanning bed ... That means it did its job – it burned up micro-organisms in this room,” he said.
After the deep clean, they test surfaces to make sure the processes worked.