Keeping Ahead of Ebola

While the world is still focused on the Ebola virus, there is some good news coming forward this week. We have learned that people who have been exposed to the virus have passed the required 21 days of quarantine with no further illness. Nigeria has been declared “Ebola-free.” There have been no additional reported cases of Ebola in the United States for several days. And hospital and public health leaders across the nation are working hard to make sure we all stay safe.

Grinnell Regional Medical Center also learned that one of our partners, Bioquell, is helping in the fight against the Ebola virus. This week, Bioquell reported that their germ-eliminating robots and services are being used by health facilities around the world to decontaminate locations where Ebola-infected and exposed patients are being treated. This includes Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas and at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

The portable, automated system uses a 35 percent hydrogen peroxide solution, which is distributed as a vapor throughout the contaminated area, ensuring complete, three-dimensional coverage. This is very important because this technology will totally eliminate any risk of residual contamination.

GRMC started using Bioquell early in 2014 in all patient rooms throughout the hospital as a preventive measure against the spread of hospital-acquired infections. GRMC is the first hospital in Iowa and the first hospital in the nation under 50 beds to use Bioquell’s unique hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination technology in our patient rooms. Even though GRMC’s hospital infection rate is well below the national average, we’re committed to doing all we can to making sure that it stays that way.

Hospital-acquired infections include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as MRSA, Clostridium difficile, commonly referred to as C-diff, and vancomcin-resistant enterococci, (VRE). We fight these hard all the time because these infections have become resistant to the antibiotics typically used to treat them.

Bioquell’s process eliminates 99.9 percent of pathogens on surfaces, including the Ebola virus. GRMC uses this technology today to fight infection.  It’s already part of our standard protocol and now other hospitals are turning to Bioquell to eliminate the Ebola virus. This only strengthens our belief that we are doing the right thing for patient and staff safety and health at our community hospital.