Meet the COVID-19 terminators, STHS’s new germ-killing robots

STHS Environmental Services Director David Synakiewicz, right, and Environmental Services Supervisor Alvin Carter use a touchpad to give one of the hospital’s new germ-killing robots its marching orders during a recent room-cleaning. (Photo by Mike Scott)

By Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org

Yes, R2-D2 and C-3P0 are more famous. So are WALL-E, Gort and even Johnny 5.

But they’ve got nothing on The Twins, the nickname given to a pair of germ-zapping robots recently deployed in St. Tammany Health System’s ongoing fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus.

These, it turns out, are the droids you’re looking for – if, that is, you’re interested in saving lives.

“Once we found out about the outbreak of COVID-19, we started really focusing on how we could take extra steps to create a safer environment for our patients and staff,” STHS Environmental Services Director David Synakiewicz said. “We have been looking at this technology for a year or two years now.”

The Twins -- formally Solaris Lytbots -- don’t look like much at first glance. Each is about the size of a large trashcan with an orange-and-white color scheme.

It’s only once one of them is rolled into place in a patient room – and after Environmental Services housekeepers are done scrubbing the room using traditional chemical cleaners -- that the magic happens.

First the room is cleared of people, then the Lytbot’s cleaning cycle is activated via remote control from outside the room. At that point, the robot’s head flips open to reveal a high-power ultraviolet light disinfecting unit, which rotates 360 degrees while emitting pulses of germ-killing UV light.

The cycle lasts for only five minutes, at which point the Lytbot is repositioned, mattresses are flipped, the food-service table is opened and other, similar adjustments are made in the room before another five-minute cycle is initiated.

A shorter, three-minute cycle targets the bathroom as well.

“They kill up to 99% of harmful bacteria without chemicals or mercury,” Synakiewicz said. “It’s a great addition to our process of cleaning.”

Synakiewicz and the rest of the health system can thank the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation for The Twins. They’re the ones who raised money for the robots, along with another quarter of a million dollars’ worth of tech gear.

The only catch was that they weren’t planning on actually ordering it all until construction on the hospital’s new four-story patient tower was completed as planned in late 2020.

But COVID-19 had different plans, according to foundation specialist Doug Walker.

“When this COVID-19 outbreak happened, administration thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and put a rush on that,” Walker said. “Because of the outstanding generosity of our donors we’ve been blessed to have, we had this money ready to go.”

The robots were delivered Friday (April 3), three weeks to the day after the hospital reported its first positive COVID-19 patient. They were immediately put to use.

As part of a sort-of shakedown cruise, Synakiewicz and his team used them to disinfect various offices and restrooms in the hospital’s main Covington campus, as well as in patient rooms.

Each time, swabs taken after the Lytbot was done showed a marked improvement in the hospital’s already high cleaning standards.

“That’s a good number,” Synakiewicz said while examining the results of a swab test as they appeared on a handheld device. “That’s a really good number.”

That makes The Twins great in the COVID-19 fight. But they, and two additional units that are still on the way, are expected to prove their usefulness long after the coronavirus crisis passes.

“Even though we’re using these for our isolation rooms, they’re still going to be used in our regular discharge rooms,” Synakiewicz said. “It’s not going to be just for isolation. We want to ensure that our hospital is the safest hospital in the parish and the region and the state for our patients and our guests that come in – and for our staff.”

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The St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, was established to sustain the healing work of the physicians and staff of St. Tammany Health System. Through the development of philanthropic support, the foundation seeks to fortify the promise to provide world-class healthcare close to home, now and for generations to come.