QUINCY (WGEM) – In the midst of a worker shortage, Blessing Hospital is turning to robots to get the job done. The hospital worked alongside Aramark over the course of three years to make this new technology a reality.
The $70,000 Nilfisk Liberty SC50UVGI robot device uses ultraviolet germicidal irradiation technology that will autonomously and independently clean the floors in hallways and lobbies to health care standards at Blessing Hospital.
“This is going to be one of the great tools that help us so that we can allocate some of our staff elsewhere and just let the machine do its job,” said Aramark’s Director of Environmental Sciences Dave Wakely.
Wakely said Blessing Hospital is the 13th hospital in the nation to use this technology.
The robot’s primary operator, Chris Smith, programmed the Nilfisk Liberty to recognize every floor at Blessing Hospital by scanning a unique QR code on each floor. To make the jargon easier, Smith gave Blessing’s robot a name: Rhonda.
With 96 housekeepers on staff, Smith said the goal of using Rhonda is not to eliminate current employees’ jobs, but to eliminate the task of sterilizing floors so the housekeepers can now have more time to focus on other duties.
“It will allocate staff to do more areas of cleaning as as we expand, I could see us hiring more staff as we go and maybe potentially getting another machine,” Smith said.
Wakely and Smith both said Rhonda can swoop in if there is ever a staffing shortage, since robots can’t call in sick. It’s also safer for housekeepers in high contact areas for the robot to take care of the floors which will give them more time to be cautious and focus on other duties, they said.
Smith plans to train four employees at Blessing to operate Rhonda. From there, the machine will work closely alongside a housekeeper doing double the work in less time.
Employees at Aramark believe “robo-scrubbers” will be trending in hospitals across the nation in the next five years.
Aramark said by the time the five-year warranty is up for the current Nilfisk Liberty, new technology will have sprouted by then.
They believe this investment, in the long run, will cut the cost of housekeeping duties.
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