Perley Rideau, CHEO partner to test sterilization method to reuse disposable masks
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The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario are partnering with a Beamsville company to test technology that could help health-care workers disinfect and reuse disposable masks.
The Clēan Flow Health Care Mini has been licensed for use reprocessing N95 masks, but its effectiveness cleaning the types of masks used in long-term care homes and hospitals is still unknown. It uses ultraviolet light, vaporized hydrogen peroxide and ozone to clean the masks and can decontaminate and sterilize up to 800 masks an hour, using technology originally developed to sterilize fruits and vegetables.
Perley Rideau has more than a week’s supply of masks, but CEO Akos Hoffer says the sterilization method — if it works — could prove helpful if the shortage of personal protective equipment continues.
“We’re not facing an acute situation,” Hoffer said. “This is a form of insurance for us so that if we ever get into a worst case scenario, we’d have some options.”
The Perley Rideau received its Clēan Flow Health Care Mini on April 6 and is using it in a specially equipped room at its campus on Russell Road. It’s working with researchers at CHEO and the National Research Council to determine if the method works. If it does, the Perley Rideau would still have to have consultations with its staff and unions before making a decision on reusing masks, Hoffer said.
The research, which is being conducted by the Perley Rideau’s Centre of Excellence in Frailty-Informed Care, is being made a priority, but Hoffer could not say how long the testing will take.
The Perley Rideau is one of 23 Ottawa long-term care and retirement homes dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19. Twenty-four staff members and 17 residents have confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four residents have died, Hoffer said.
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