Yee Hong is always innovating and we’re committed to provide a healthy home for residents and a safe working environment for staff. That includes cleaning and disinfection.
As an example, we adjust the solution and increase the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces such has elevator buttons, hand rails and door handles during typical “flu” seasons. Over the years, we have limited the number and severity of outbreaks that occur in our homes.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to expand and improve our best practices in the area of cleaning and disinfection by participating in a pilot to install copper or copper alloy on high-touch surfaces.
Copper coatings are proven to have an antimicrobial effect and Yee Hong is adding this additional tool to strengthen our Infection Prevention and Control program.
This project has been generously funded by Lundin Mining and technical and scientific expertise has been provided by Coalition for Healthcare Acquired Infection Reduction (CHAIR – a not-for-profit group of industry and health-care professionals working to reduce healthcare acquired infections).
Over the next few weeks, we will install copper covers on door handles in the main entrances, offices and resident rooms on the second floor, change the resident washroom door handles and nursing office area cabinet/drawer door handles to copper coated ones and replace the public and staff washroom toilet seats with copper coated ones. These items were identified as high-touch surfaces that multiple people will touch during a normal day.
While we will maintain our cleaning and disinfection procedures, the copper coatings will ensure that those surfaces will remain sanitary in between disinfection cycles.
A scientist from CHAIR will conduct a study on the effectiveness of the application of copper by examining the microbial load on these surfaces before and after the application of the copper.
Yee Hong is grateful to Lundin Mining and to CHAIR for the expertise and technical skill our partners bring to this health and safety project.