The Healthy Elder Zone® Program – Is Your facility a Healthy Elder Zone®?

In today’s germy world, we as people are the hunted by germs that want to infect us. Because we have had antibiotics prescribed for us so often over the decades, many of the germs that were run of the mill are now immune to medications that would have killed them years ago. These are called adaptive organisms or Super Bugs and adult/eldercare facilities have many of them.

People acquire infections most often (80%+ of the time) from cross contamination infection. That is when a person touches a surface that many others have touched. The germs that person picked up on their fingers and hands, find their way into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth. The average person touches their face three to four times a minute. That equates to about 2,520 times per day, during a 12-hour day. That’s a lot of germs to put into your system.

As humans, we are most susceptible to infection when we are very young or as we get into our silver years. Why is this true? As infants and young children, our immune systems have to learn which invading germs are harmful so that we can fight back. As elderly people, our immune systems are winding down in their ability to fight infections.

For decades we’ve been taught to clean surfaces with a good detergent cleaner. If we thought there were germs present, we were taught to use a disinfectant. The problem today is that a large number of infectious organisms are immune to the effects of many disinfectants. What’s worse, is that the majority of people (including health professionals) are not aware of the proper way to use disinfectants. Furthermore, most people don’t know that when a disinfectant evaporates, there is no longer any ability to kill germs on that surface. So what can we do?

There are newer technologies that can be used to give a facility and its surfaces in essence, its own immune system so that when new germs/organisms land on those treated surfaces, the vast majority of those infected cells are destroyed very quickly.

What could fewer germs in your environment mean to you? Perhaps fewer infections!?

Sterile Space Infection Defense LLC was created to deal with just such issues. Our Healthy Elder Zone® Program is directly related to our Healthy Child Zone® Program, Heathy Dining Zone® Program, Healthy Fitness Zone® Program and more. When talking about our Healthy Child Zone Program for childcare centers and child activity centers, our clients are reporting a 50% to 70% reduction in illnesses in comparison to before using our services.

Our programs provide for site decontamination, terminal disinfection, antimicrobial coating treatment, emergency outbreak disinfection, carpet disinfection and treatment of all high frequency touch surfaces or objects including transport vehicles.

Look at the difference before and after our services on the surface germ load counts on the surfaces below.

They key to the program is the Antimicrobial Coating we apply to all surfaces. Here’s how and why it works so well.

Surface upon which coating has been applied

Since the antimicrobial coating causes severe physical damage and no just chemical potential poisoning to cells, the cells that land upon the treated surface become neutralized. As long as the surfaces are kept clean, the efficacy of our service works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for up to twelve months, keeping surfaces as germ free as can be! 

Here’s why this service is so important. Germs can last very long on the surfaces around you.

Persistence of clinically relevant organisms on

dry inanimate surfaces

Organism duration of persistence (range)

Acinetobacter spp

3 days – 5 months

Clostridium difficile (spores) 

5 months

Escherichia coli

1.5 hours – 16 months

Enterococcus spp, including VRE

5 days – 4 months

Influenza virus

1 – 2 days

Norovirus and feline calici virus

8 hours – 7 days

Staphylococcus aureus, 

including MRSA

7 days – 7 months

Information from Initiatives in Safe Patient Care
http://www.initiatives-patientsafety.org