Market Solutions

Healthcare Solutions

StrionAir works with infection control officers, epidemiologists, facility managers, operations and maintenance managers, and energy management professionals at healthcare facilities to contain the spread of nosocomial infections, reduce energy and other operating costs and protect building occupants from environmental threats.

Problem

The recent outbreak of SARS has dramatically increased the awareness of hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections. The SARS outbreak, which was primarily spread through exposures in healthcare facilities, has forced facilities to reexamine their procedures and engineering controls for containing and limiting the spread of airborne infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 2.5 million patients annually acquire an infection while hospitalized in U.S. hospitals for other health problems and that 90,000 die as a direct or indirect result of these infections. These deaths now represent the fourth-highest cause of mortality among Americans, behind heart disease, cancer, and strokes, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, nosocomial infections kill more people than car accidents, homicides, poisonings, fires, and drowning combined. In addition to the human toll, the CDC reports that efforts to treat these infections add nearly $5 billion to healthcare costs every year.

The rate of nosocomial infections has more than doubled in the past 20 years, from ~2% of the patient population in 1980 to >5% in 2000, and an increasing number of these infections are due to inadequate HVAC systems that fail to protect at-risk patients.

Solution

The StrionAir System's >95% filtration efficiency against sub-micron particles and active germicidal effect can be a highly effective approach to capturing and killing the airborne pathogens that can cause nosocomial infections. Independent testing labs have demonstrated the system's ability to capture and kill bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia Marcescens, the fungal species Aspergillus, and even the bioterror agent Anthrax. The StrionAir technology introduces only 30% of the resistance to airflow as do HEPA filters, providing enormous HVAC energy savings over these high filtration efficiency alternatives. Furthermore, the system's modular nature enables it to be retrofit into very specific air handlers that might service one or more specialized areas of the healthcare facility.

Result

Healthcare facilities have a responsibility to provide a comfortable, healthy and secure environment to patients and staff. The StrionAir System can help facilities fulfill this responsibility economically.

Case Study

Protecting Patients at Vancouver General Hospital