Maintaining one of the Busiest Hospitals in the Country

USC Medical Center in East Los Angeles, CA, is one of the nation's largest—and busiest—public hospitals.  In one year, the hospital treats 800,000 patients, delivers 10,000 babies, has 250,000 emergency room visits—and employs 9,000 people. The hospital also cares for approximately 5,000 outpatient visitors per day.
 
"You can imagine how busy our housekeeping department is in a facility this large," says Bill Walton, the center's director of environmental services.  "All the concerns about cleaning, controlling the spread of infection, and cross-contamination are multiplied a thousand-fold here."

Walton was looking for a more thorough, faster way to clean the hospital's common-area restrooms, which must be cleaned three to four times per eight-hour shift.  Traditional methods, with towels and a sprayer, are slow, and because of concerns about cross contamination, he wanted a cleaning system that required very little touching of fixtures and surfaces by cleaners.  The system he decided best fits his needs is the KaiWhiz, the smaller version of the no-touch cleaning system from manufacturer Kaivac, Inc., Hamilton, OH.

"They love it," says Walton, "Because it's a no-touch system, our people don't have to hand-scrub toilets or urinals.  We just use the pressure wash system to spray disinfectant solution on everything—floors, fixtures, walls, vents, and then vacuum it up. It's quick!" 

In fact, cleaning time studies published by the International Sanitary Supply Association, Inc., (ISSA) indicate that no-touch, spray-and-blow-dry cleaning systems like the KaiWhiz are indeed faster.  According to published studies in the official ISSA 447 Cleaning Times, the systems can clean surfaces up to two-thirds faster than traditional hand-cleaning methods.

"Using the KaiWhiz is just a better way to clean," says Walton. "It helps eliminate cross-contamination; it's faster, and my people love the machine.  The KaiWhiz is just what you need when you're cleaning a super-busy place like USC."