Orlando Health uses ultraviolet light robot to fight the flu

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Officials at Orlando Health are using some high tech special equipment to combat the flu in the form of a germ fighting robot.

“This is UVC so it’s disinfecting light, so what it does is in about four minutes after we clean the room we send the machine in for four minutes, it will put light in the room 360 degrees around the rooms to kill all germs and bacteria on all of the surfaces and in the air,” said Jonathan Cooper of Orlando Health Central.

The Clorox Optimum UV robot is being deployed in full force at Health Central Hospital in Ocoee -- Orlando Health says it’s a trusted tool in their arsenal to help fight the flu.

“Similar to the flu and all of the viruses that we deal with we call them Healthcare Required Infections or “HAI” so with this piece of equipment we’re able to decrease those “HAI’s” and kill those germs,” Cooper said.

Officials say the pinkish blue ultraviolet light killing germs at 99.9 %, and is being used in patient rooms and public areas -- a necessity during this nasty flu season.

“When you get that expansion in like the flu season time or have any outbreaks or anything like that, that you’re concerned about, you want to kill any germs pretty quick, we then can have these machines running 24 hours a day,” Cooper said.

The robots obviously don’t replace traditional cleaning -- all surfaces are still thoroughly wiped down before bringing in the robot for that extra bacteria killing boost.

Once the rooms are cleaned workers use ATP test kits to confirm the cleanliness, looking for a score of less than 500 as a passing score.

“'124' so that tells us not only did our cleaning work really well but also our UV worked really well,” said Jonathan Cooper.

Orlando Health has been using this special technology for about 4 years.