Mercy Health-St. Rita's received a new type of personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 outbreak thanks to GROB Systems in Bluffton.
The plexiglass screens donated from GROB are an extra safety measure for healthcare workers battling the coronavirus on the frontlines. With this screen, there is essentially no direct contact between the healthcare worker behind the screen and the person being tested on the other side.
Dr. Alexander Bobrov, the medical director in the emergency department at St. Rita’s says, “If healthcare workers are using PPE appropriately and using tools that are designed to keep infection at bay, that the rate of transmission and infection can be cut down quite a bit. So this is just another tool in our toolbox to kind of help prevent transmission to us.”
GROB Systems has produced 11 screens and they have been sent to both Lima hospitals and the hospitals in Bluffton and Findlay. They do not plan on mass producing the screens, but they are working with two other health systems to get the screens.
“Across the country, you see a lot of industry, businesses, community leaders, coming up to healthcare workers and saying what do you need? What do you people need to help protect your staff? And I think we’re seeing that right here with our own community,” says Dr. Bobrov.
The screens are currently not being utilized in the hospital, as they are meant for mass testing. If mass testing does come to the area, St. Rita's says they will have a plan for their implementation of the screens.
