Lafayette General Medical Center Unveils Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots

LAFAYETTE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Lafayette General Medical Center (LGMC) is the first hospital in Acadiana to use Xenex LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robots™ to enhance environmental cleanliness by disinfecting and destroying hard-to-kill germs, bacteria and superbugs in hard-to-clean places. LGMC joins innovative hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Stanford Hospital, which were early adopters of the new technology.

“As a healthcare leader in Acadiana, the Xenex system furthers our commitment to quality and patient safety,” said Patrick Gandy, CEO of LGMC. “The germ-zapping robots have been an invaluable supplement to our outstanding environmental services team. We understand that as superbugs have evolved, it is necessary for our methods of disinfecting to evolve as well.”

The portable disinfection system is effective against even the most dangerous pathogens, including Clostridium difficile (C.diff), norovirus, influenza, Ebola and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA. The five Xenex robots were named by employees. Walt, Daisy, Cindy, Randy and R2Clean2, use pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light to quickly destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi and bacterial spores.

“We are excited to partner with Lafayette General Medical Center. Hospitals using our technology for room disinfection have reported lower infection rates, which enhances patient safety,” said Morris Miller, CEO of Xenex. Miller has a personal connection to Lafayette as an investor and board member for Golfballs.com.

The portable Xenex system can disinfect a typical patient room or operating room in 10-15 minutes without warm-up or cool-down times. At LGMC, when a patient is discharged or transferred from a room, an environmental services (EVS) employee will manually disinfect the room with mops, rags, disinfectant, etc. After the manual cleaning takes place an EVS manager will roll the robot into the patient room. The robot is then left alone in the room to perform three 5-minute light cycles. They also perform two 10-minute cycles in each operating room every night.

These Wi-Fi- and cellular-enabled machines are already killing bugs in more than 400 hospitals across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

“In infection prevention, our goal is to provide a clean, safe environment for our patients, their families and our employees,” said Gandy. “This is a revolutionary system that provides a second layer of protection after a room is cleaned and sanitized. We are excited to introduce this technology to Lafayette and our patients.”

About Lafayette General Medical Center

Lafayette General Medical Center (LGMC) boasts a total of 475 beds, including 366 staffed beds at its main campus, 85 at its LG Ortho campus and 24 at the behavioral health unit. LGMC’s main campus is the largest full-service, acute-care medical center in the 10-parish area of Acadiana. LGMC provides families with comprehensive medical services at every level of care.

Lafayette General has the busiest emergency department in Acadiana and handles the highest level of trauma in the region. The main campus’s 34-bed adult intensive care unit (ICU) is staffed 24/7 by intensivists (physicians specializing in critical care), while the 31-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) boasts benchmark status in Key Performance Indicators by the Vermont Oxford Network.

The Medical Center evolved from Lafayette Sanitarium, a six-bed facility that opened in 1911, and has been a leader in healthcare throughout its existence. Over the years, LGMC has expanded its services and facilities to meet the community’s growing needs, having been named a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology and in Neuroscience, as well as having the distinction as an Accredited Cancer Program with Commendation, Advanced Certified Primary Stroke Center, Disease-Specific Care Certification for Joint Replacement Hip, Knee and Shoulder and Accredited Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. A leader in technology, LGMC was the first to bring the da Vinci^® (a robotic surgical system), CyberKnife^® (a stereotactic radiosurgery system), MAKO^® robotic-arm (an orthopedic surgery robotic arm), Medtronic O-Arm (a surgical imaging system) and BrightMatter Servo Solution (a GPS-like brain surgery system) to Acadiana.

LGMC became a major teaching hospital on July 1, 2013 through a partnership with LSU School of Medicine. Lafayette General Medical Center is recognized by federal and state tax laws as a 501c(3) not-for-profit corporation. As a community-owned and managed hospital, all decisions are made locally by an experienced administrative team and a volunteer Membership Corporation and Board of Trustees. For more information about LGMC and its affiliates, visit LafayetteGeneral.com.

Xenex Disinfection Services

Xenex’s patented Full Spectrum^TM pulsed xenon UV room disinfection system is used for the advanced disinfection of healthcare facilities. Due to its speed and ease of use, the Xenex system has proven to integrate smoothly into hospital cleaning operations. Xenex’s mission is to save lives and reduce suffering by destroying the deadly microorganisms that cause hospital acquired infections (HAIs). The company is backed by well-known investors that include EW Healthcare Partners, Piper Jaffray Merchant Services, Malin Corporation, Battery Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II and RK Ventures. For more information, visit Xenex.com.

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