The NRC purchased 20 decontamination devices from Beamsville, Ontario company Clēan Works Inc. to send to hospitals as part of a Pandemic Response Challenge Program study that will evaluate the use of this technology in Canada's health care system. The device, called the Clēan Flow Healthcare Mini, decontaminates personal protective equipment such as N95 respirators, masks, and medical gowns, so they can be safely reused by medical professionals.
Clēan Works Inc. originally manufactured a version of this device, Clēan Flow, as a food safety solution. With business advisory support and R&D funding from the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), Clēan Works Inc. modified its existing solution to help the Government of Canada in its efforts against COVID-19.
"Working with NRC IRAP enabled us to respond quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using our combined expertise we were able to retool our existing solution to increase the availability of medical PPE for Canadian healthcare and front-line workers. We are very fortunate we are able to make such a meaningful contribution to the health and safety of our fellow Canadians."
The Clēan Flow Healthcare Mini has been proven to kill 99.99% of a surrogate for the novel coronavirus on disposable filtering face masks. The Healthcare Mini received Class 2 medical device certification from Health Canada and now meets the requirements for use in hospitals and other healthcare organizations.
At present, 10 Clēan Flow units have either been delivered to clinical sites, or are expected to be in place shortly.
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