Invisible Rays of Hope: UV Disinfection for Healthier Spaces

UV disinfection technology, meanwhile, primarily uses UV-C rays, which have the shortest wavelengths and highest energy of the three types. The light damages the nucleic acids within the cells of microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses, rendering them inactive and unable to replicate.

Since radiation from UV-C rays can still be harmful to skin and eyes, UV disinfection technology typically either shields users from direct light, such as in the UVGI fixtures in which the UV light is contained within the fixture itself, or is only used when a room is empty, such as the mobile disinfection units.

Several studies analyze the effectiveness of UV-C treatment against an array of issues, from fungal spores to multi-drug-resistant (MDR) organisms, as well as against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and seasonal flu. The results were 99 percent or greater efficacy against most of them, according to a 2022 article published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International, a Switzerland-based nonprofit publisher of peer reviewed, open access journals.

Reducing Surgical Site Infection

That high effectiveness rate is what drew Providence Alaska to incorporate UV-C disinfection into a hybrid operating room during a recent renovation, says Ted Walker, senior clinical nurse specialist at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

Providence installed the light in a room used for surgery: interventional cardiac catheterization laboratory procedures, neurosurgical endovascular procedures (in which surgeons go in through an artery and work inside the brain), and in major vascular procedures. The hospital began using UV disinfection in 2022.

“It reduces the amount of microbial burden that is on surfaces in the room. The literature now is stating in general that microbial load on contaminated surfaces can be reduced by 99 to 99.999 percent,” Walker says. “It is the latest, greatest technology we can offer to try to reduce infection, especially in those high-risk cases that are going on in that room.”

Walker says the light is turned on when the room is empty. As to whether it has reduced the rate of postoperative infection, he says it’s difficult to say; Providence already has a low rate of surgical site infection. But UV technology is becoming more commonly used in surgical settings, and Providence is considering expanding its use in future renovations. Maintenance is minimal, with bulb replacement required on a roughly five-year cycle.

Robert Reid, general manager of Sheet Metal, Inc., sought ways to boost business, which normally focuses on the oil and gas industry, as the COVID-19 pandemic abated. He and company leaders looked into UV disinfection.

“We did some research and found a company, American Ultraviolet. They’ve been around for sixty years. We reached out to them to get some information,” he says.

Liking what they learned about the effectiveness of the disinfection treatment, Sheet Metal, Inc. took the next step. During the transition from remote work back to in-office work, many people still had concerns about virus transmission in shared spaces. UV disinfection offered peace of mind.

“We ended up becoming the first Alaska distributor for American Ultraviolet,” Reid says.

From there, he and his employees reached out to property managers, building managers, and the like, providing education about UV technology and how it could be incorporated into office or clinical spaces.

To help demonstrate the technology, Reid partnered with Suzanne Hickel, owner and administrator of Opus Memoria, a memory care assisted living home in Midtown Anchorage serving ten senior residents. When Reid reached out, Hickel says she and her staff were struggling to find cleaning supplies, gloves, disinfectant, and other items that were in short supply.

“It was absolutely necessary for us to be sanitizing all of the time,” Hickel says.

Opus Memoria and Sheet Metal, Inc. shared costs to install nearly a dozen UVGI fixtures in the facility, mostly in common areas. The fixtures are unobtrusive, roughly 18-inch-long black boxes that sit near the ceiling and emit a gentle blue glow. The units, which stay on all the time, were installed in January 2021, a process that took just a couple of days.

“We have them throughout the home,” Hickel says. The technology lets the home keep the doors open to family visits as much as possible.

“For those living with brain changes, it’s vitally important that they have connection with their family and loved ones,” she says. “What it allowed us to do, in the end of the pandemic, was to have more family members come in.”

And now that there is less fear of COVID-19 infection, UVGI continues to shine. Hickel says she has noticed residents experience fewer bouts of seasonal cold and flu.

“We still have flu season, still get colds, grandkids still come to see us—there are always germs floating around,” she explains, “but I do feel like we’re healthier as a result.”

Healthier Healthcare in Kodiak

Both KANA clinics, the Mill Bay Health Center and the larger Alutiiq Enwia Health Center, use UVGI fixtures and mobile disinfection units to keep viruses at bay, says KANA Clinic Operations Director Sarah Arneson.

“Our previous facilities director had all facilities mounted with UV lights in the office space and brought those in for the clinic as well,” she says.

Throughout KANA office space and in shared spaces such as lobbies, UVGI boxes hang high on the walls, glowing with blue light. Air is sucked into the fixture, disinfected, and pushed back out.

The UVGI fixtures are in exam rooms, as well, and the staff takes disinfection one step further. Arneson says they use two mobile disinfection devices on wheels—MRS33-8 units that measure nearly 4 feet tall and about 20 inches wide, each with eight 33-inch-long UV bulbs mounted around a stainless-steel cylinder—to disinfect exam rooms after patients come in with upper respiratory infections, cold or flu symptoms, or other viruses.

“They look kind of like a little robot, so we call them WALL-E,” Arneson says, referring to the 2008 Disney film starring the eponymous robot tasked with compacting waste on a trash-filled Earth.

The UV lamps on the mobile units are not shielded, Arneson notes, so when a room needs treatment, the unit is rolled in, a timer is set and the employee steps out of the room while UV light bathes the space for twenty minutes. In addition to post-patient treatment, the disinfection units are used in each exam room twice a week.

Exactly how effective the units have been, in terms of reducing the spread of viruses or infection, is difficult to pinpoint. Arneson says KANA is working on providing a concrete answer.

“Our facilities team is doing a study to be able to see what the rate of disinfection is. We don’t have those results yet. That will affect our decision whether we’re going to continue to use [the technology] moving forward,” Arneson says.

If the data show that UVGI is indeed a practical precaution, expect to see the unseen color shining in more healthcare settings and beyond.