Kenall Manufacturing
10200 55th St., Kenosha
Nearly one in every 25 U.S. hospital patients will contract an infection in a health care setting.
In response to the need to address the increasing risk of hospital-acquired infections, Kenosha-based Kenall Manufacturing developed a new line of Indigo-Clean light fixtures specifically designed for operating rooms and other health care settings.
Operating rooms represent a challenging sterile space because of the procedures being performed, the frequent use of the rooms and the compromised immune systems of the patients.
The Indigo-Clean fixtures can be installed into the ceiling of any room and provide bright, high-quality white light to illuminate the surgical field while a narrow spectrum of indigo-colored light also is emitted to disinfect the space.
Unlike UV light, Indigo-Clean uses safe, visible light to kill harmful bacteria in the air and on hard and soft surfaces.
The indigo color uses a wavelength of 405 nanometers to automatically, safely and continuously disinfect the air and all hard and soft surfaces in the room.
Molecules within bacteria absorb the indigo light, which creates a chemical reaction that kills the bacteria from the inside. When the room is not in use the light fixtures can be switched to indigo-only mode, which provides a higher degree of safe disinfection.
Froedtert Hospital, one of Indigo-Clean’s clinical partners, recently documented a 70 percent reduction in the number of bacteria living on surfaces in a trial of a room lit with Indigo-Clean fixtures.
Additionally, the ECRI Institute included Indigo-Clean on its list of the top 10 technologies health care executives should watch in 2016.
“Visible light disinfection has the potential to completely change the way the health care industry battles hospital-acquired infections by providing continuous, safe disinfection of the air and hard/soft surfaces,” said Jim Hawkins, chief executive officer and chairman of Kenall Manufacturing.
The light fixtures bolster the health care facility’s cleaning efforts and eliminate human error by continuously disinfecting as long as the light is on.
There is no special or additional training required, the light is safe for patients and caregivers, and the room doesn’t need to be taken out of service in order to clean it.
