WVU Medicine makes investment to enhance physical environment

On Sunday, April 15, WVU Medicine will enter into a contract with Xanitos to provide J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital with the most up-to-date hospital cleaning system in the market – an investment that will benefit and enhance the physical environment for patients, visitors, and staff.

After April 15, the WVU Medicine Environmental Services (EVS) management team will be employees of Xanitos. The rest of the EVS staff (non-management) will remain WVU Medicine employees. Brad Arnold will be the new director of EVS. Most recently, Arnold led EVS at a six-hospital health system in Columbus, Ohio.

Xanitos has vast experience in the healthcare environment, providing cleaning services to more than 100 hospitals throughout the country. Within the next few weeks, the EVS management team will receive intensive off-site training by Xanitos, and EVS employees will receive on-site training on the Xanitos processes.

Also, a new system will soon be implemented. It includes:

• the introduction of Xanitos’ "team clean" in order to increase daily touches in patient rooms and improve labor utilization

• incorporation of standard work throughout the cleaning systems process

• cleaning inspection tools with benchmark comparison across Xanitos’ customer base

• introduction of the XRO-3 Patient Vacuum Cart, which includes an ultraviolet (UV) light disinfectant drawer for vacuum components; low-noise (51 decibels) vacuum motor; and four-stage, ultra-low penetration air (ULPA) level vacuum filtering

“This new system is part of a continued effort to make WVU Medicine the best place to work and provide excellent patient experiences,” said Nathan Burt, assistant vice president of support services. “Please join me in welcoming Xanitos as it help us move our hospital’s cleaning to the next level.”