LIMA — At a demonstration that looked like a scene from a science-fiction movie, Lima Memorial Health System unveiled Tuesday it’s new germ-fighting robot, nicknamed Trudie.
The robot uses a powerful ultraviolet light to kill 99.99 percent of harmful pathogens living on hospital surfaces, and will be used primarily in the hospital’s surgery and isolation units.
“What it does is it disrupts the chromosomes and it makes it so that the germs or the virus cannot reproduce,” said David Damaske, manager of environmental services at Lima Memorial. “When it can’t reproduce, it dies, so that’s what makes it such a good process.”
The UV-C light the robot uses is so powerful, patients and hospital staff must leave the room while it’s in operation. Trudie is operated using a control pad placed on the outside of rooms where the robot is in use.
“It doesn’t penetrate surfaces like sun rays you get from a sun burn, but it does penetrate your skin to some extent,” Damaske said. “It’s not very deep, but it’s just something we want to be careful about.”
When the robot is activated, it communicates to staff that they have 10 seconds to vacate the area. Fluorescent bulbs then light up, producing a blue-green hue that illuminates the dark room its operating in. Damaske said it takes between 35 and 45 minutes to clean a surgery room, and that the robot can be used up to 24 hours.
Lima Memorial CEO Michael Swick said the germ-fighting robot is just one more step the hospital is taking to ensure infection is prevented as much as possible.
“Our commitment to infection control and safety are No. 1 around here, so it’s nice to have an additional tool in our arsenal,” Swick said.
Swick said they hope to add a second robot by the end of 2015. The first robot was purchased through a donation from PotashCorp.
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