Sara Albertelli

salbertelli@jacksonville.com

This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to the Times-Union/jacksonville.com.

The supply of masks that may save doctors and nurses from COVID-19 are running low, but Baptist Health is using robotic technology to disinfect and reuse the protective face guards.

“Working in the health care field, I never thought this would happen,” said Katie Dorsey, nursing director of Baptist Medical Center Beaches. “I never thought there would be a national shortage of masks, gowns and other PPE [personal protective equipment] items. Now we are having to get creative with what we have left.”

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Baptist Health said it is one of the first in the region to use the Xenex Disinfection Services approach.

Xenex’s LightStrike robots use pulsed xenon ultraviolet light to quickly stop microorganisms in their tracks by deactivating and damaging their DNA, officials said. The intense UV light prevents bacteria and viruses from multiplying or mutating, and it can rid an entire patient room of microorganisms in as little as 10 minutes.

For the past six years, LightStrike robots have been used in patient and operating rooms at Baptist Health to disinfect beds and other high-contact surfaces like tray tables, bed rails and doorknobs.

Now program developers have started using the technology to help combat the COVID-19 disease by decontaminating masks rather than disposing them.

First, the masks are strung along wire shelving, resembling clothes on a clothesline. Then, after a five-minute disinfection cycle, the masks are rotated and then exposed for five minutes on the other side so that both their exterior and interior will be decontaminated.

Nobody can be in the room while the robot does its work as the technology can irritate eyes from intense UV rays, but it is safe to observe through glass windows.

Baptist Health said the mask-cleaning program was implemented this week in all four of its locations in Northeast Florida. Each facility will have a room dedicated to disinfecting the masks.

Mark Stibich, co-founder of Xenex, said his company cannot take credit as Baptist came up with the idea to use the technology in this novel way.

“When the Baptist Health team reached out to us with questions about how they could respond in this pandemic to keep their health care workers and community safe, we were thrilled to be able to provide them with information and published research about LightStrike disinfection technology,” Stibich said. “The team has been amazing to work with and has been thorough and diligent in developing their innovative solution.”

Rick Tresmond, vice president of the supply chain, was the executive sponsor for the program and helped make the program work.

The masks used in the COVID-19 units are on top of the priority list to be sanitized, but Baptist Health said there are also plans for the program to expand.

Dorsey emphasized that the technology is very user-friendly with appropriate training.

Baptist Health also has started introducing the new system to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the hospital’s partners.

Kyal Rector, the senior strategic sourcing agent in value analysis for Baptist Health, said he is confident other hospitals will likely employ similar methods in order to make their supplies last.

“With the pandemic, each health care system is trying to adapt to the challenges we are facing on a daily basis,” Rector said. “I think everyone is trying to come up with a solution. I think using this technology is drastically going to reduce the demand for PPEs and allow health care professionals to use the technology they already have available.”

Sara Albertelli: (904) 359-4097

This content is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to the Times-Union/jacksonville.com