Local health officials call new decontamination system a ‘game changer’

JACKSON, Tenn. — Health officials are calling a new system a “game changer” in the fight against coronavirus, and now it’s coming to West Tennessee.

In their daily press conference, Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department Director Kim Tedford said they’re getting a way to reuse personal protective equipment.

“It’s called a Battelle system,” Tedford said. “It is a decontamination system that releases vaporized hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate PPE. In this case right now, it’s just face masks like N-95 that are used but not soiled.”

The system can decontaminate up to 80,000 masks a day, extending the use of them by up to 20 times each.

“I wish we could do it for a lot of other supplies too, not just the N-95s. It’s going to be a really great thing for facilities across the nation,” said Amy Garner, chief compliance officer for West Tennessee Healthcare.

It’s being funded and manned by FEMA, and is expected to be delivered to the McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport on Tuesday or Wednesday.

“It’s going to be set up here in Jackson, TN, but it’s actually going to serve the whole West Tennessee region including Shelby Co. So all hospitals and providers this side of Nashville in the west region will be saving their N-95 masks and sending them to this decontamination unit called the Battelle system,” Tedford said.

West Tennessee Healthcare says while they’re doing okay on PPE right now, this could really help in the future.

“Because if we get into a situation where we are low on inventory, we’re not relying on our vendors to have to get those shipments to our facilities,” Garner said. “We’ll be able to process those masks with the decontamination process. So, it’s great news.”

Mayor Scott Conger also said only about 30% of restaurants opened for dine-in services Monday.