What is UVC Technology? How Concordia’s Additional Measures Improve Safety

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed many aspects of our daily lives, from taking a trip to the grocery store to visiting with loved ones – especially for seniors living in retirement or assisted living communities. With these changes, technology has played an important role in the way residents and families are staying connected as well as the way our staff members carry out daily activities at our senior living communities.

One of the most prevalent changes that has occurred at Concordia over the last several months is the change in our facilities’ cleaning and disinfecting processes. Routine cleaning and disinfecting measures that are standard at all of our senior living communities have been enhanced dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to ensuring touch points and common spaces are cleaned even more frequently than before, several new cleaning technologies that have been incorporated at our communities to keep residents and patients safe include: UVC air filtration technology, UVC lighting and Clorox Total 360 Electrostatic sprayers. Below are several commonly asked questions and answers about UVC lighting and how increased COVID-19 sanitation processes have enhanced the cleaning procedures at our locations.  

What is Ultraviolet (UV) Light?

Ultraviolet light is a form of light emitted from wavelengths on a spectrum. According to the FDA, UV disinfecting devices are devices that use UVA or UVC light to produce a germicidal effect (the A and C  stand for different types of ultraviolet light). These devices are used in clinical settings to help disinfect surfaces after manual cleaning has been performed. Ultraviolet technology is a non-chemical approach to disinfection. In this method of disinfection, nothing is added to the surfaces being cleaned – which makes this process simple. Over the past several months, UVC lights have been used at several of our senior living and assisted living communities to disinfect common spaces as an additional part of the cleaning process.

Is UVC Disinfection Safe?

UVC disinfection has been used for sanitization for many years in different clinical settings, and all Concordia staff who use UVC disinfection systems at work are thoroughly trained in how to do so in a safe way. In March 2020, the FDA released guidance on how to use approved UV devices for COVID-19 cleaning of common spaces and COVID-19 sanitizing processes for nursing homes. At Concordia, UVC lighting has been used at our senior living and assisted living facilities by our maintenance, housekeeping and nursing teams to ensure resident and patient rooms are cleaned and sanitized extensively during the COVID-19 sanitation process. Frequent refresher training courses are provided for staff so that all UVC disinfection is done in a way that is safe for all staff, residents and patients.

Cleaning and Disinfecting Processes

In addition to UVC light disinfection, UVC air filtration technology has been incorporated into the air-duct system in the Lund Care Center at Concordia at Cabot, a continuing care retirement community in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and hopefully at other Concordia locations soon. UVC air filtration systems are a form of air purification that removes harmful particles by pulling the air into the appliance where the particles are then exposed to a HEPA filter and a small internal chamber that emits UVC light. These high-output UVC lamps sterilize airborne viruses, bacteria and germs as they pass through the lamp in the HVAC system. This type of technology is commonly used to prevent the spread of viruses, bacteria and germs in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

In addition to both UVC sterilization and UVC air filtration technology, Clorox Spray 360 machines are used by our housekeeping teams to clean extensively in each room. The machines use an electrostatic mist that spreads throughout a room (even in the smallest spaces like under desks, etc.) to remove bacteria and germs from surfaces. While cleaning measures have been increased, our housekeeping teams have been working hard to disinfect touch points and common spaces throughout our campuses – an effort that has been helped greatly by Clorox Spray 360 machines. At Concordia at Rebecca Residence, a continuing care retirement community in Allison, Park Pennsylvania, Clorox 360 machines and room disinfecting foggers have been used in different rooms and areas on campus for cleaning and disinfecting, as well as all Concordia communities.

These are only a few of the ways Concordia communities have incorporated cleaning services and disinfecting measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about any of our healthcare services and senior living communities in Western PA, Eastern OH, and Tampa, FL visit the care levels and services page of our website to find a campus near you. You can also call our headquarters at 724-352-1571 or message us 24/7 through the contact form on our website.