NRHS and Xenex team up to fight germs, flu at local schools

Posted on: 3/1/18

For the past two years, Norman Regional Health System has used its four Xenex LightStrike germ-fighting robots daily to enhance safety by disinfecting patient rooms and other hospital areas. The hospital recently teamed up with Xenex Disinfection Services, an OHA Preferred Partner company, to lend an army of Germ-Zapping Robots™ to be used at area schools in the Norman, Moore and Noble public school districts to disinfect classrooms, restrooms, and other areas where germs may lurk.

Xenex Lightstrike® is a UV disinfection robot that uses a pulsed xenon lamp to create intense germicidal ultraviolet (UV) light that quickly kills the germs that cause serious infections such as influenza, C. difficile, MRSA and more.

Richie Splitt, president and CEO of Norman Regional, said since the hospital had seen great results, it wanted to share the robots’ capabilities with the community.

 “Norman Regional is committed to improving the health of our community, both inside and outside our hospital doors. If we could provide a robot in every classroom we would, but we’re doing the next best thing by sending 11 robots to our partners at local schools to fight the flu,” Splitt said. “As a health care provider, we’ve seen how illness can spread quickly and we know that children learn better when they are healthy. Through this partnership with Xenex and local schools we are helping to keep our kids, educators, and parents healthy.”

“We appreciate Norman Regional Health System for their continued partnership and their commitment to proactively addressing student health,” said Dr. Nicholas Migliorino, superintendent of Norman Public Schools. “This is just another example of how students in Norman Public Schools benefit from the robust support of our community.”

After this week, the extra robots will return to Xenex, but Norman Regional will keep its four permanent robots at their homes at Norman Regional Health System hospitals. The robots have been in use in these hospitals since June 2016. The health system has seen a remarkable reduction in infections since the beginning of the program.

For more information on Xenex and the OHA Preferred Partner Network, click here. To read more about this unique community outreach project, read the Oklahoman article.