Brunswick, Maine – March 26, 2020 – STARC Systems, a manufacturer of temporary modular wall containment systems used for occupied renovations, announced today that it has been deemed ‘essential’ and will refocus all production on instant isolation solutions to dramatically increase the number of units available for healthcare facilities throughout the country, helping to protect more healthcare workers and patients and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Typically, STARC Systems modular wall solutions are used in occupied healthcare renovations to eliminate dust, debris, and pathogens from impacting patients and employees. Now, rather than keeping pathogens from escaping a construction site, these panels are used to eliminate the spread of COVID-19 by creating instant negative pressure isolation anterooms and airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIR).
“For years we have relied on STARC Systems solutions to provide a safe environment for healthcare workers and patients during healthcare facility renovations,” said Brian Hamilton, Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences, Consigli Construction. “Now, STARC has become critical in our response to provide hospitals with immediate patient isolation rooms to reduce the spread of coronavirus. These rooms allow overflowing healthcare systems or entirely repurposed facilities to separate patients who are sick from other patients and healthcare workers who are not.”
STARC Systems’ isolation rooms exceed the ICRA Class IV and ASTM E-84 healthcare requirements for infection control and fire/smoke spread and its surfaces are easily disinfected. They have continued to be used at national healthcare facilities, such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Cleveland Clinic and Seattle Children’s in occupied renovations to meet the highest infection control standards.
Increasing Production
In order to meet the immediate surging demand for negative pressure isolation rooms across the country, STARC Systems is taking the following steps:
- Expanding shifts with additional manufacturing and tech support employees.
- Doubling the existing manufacturing space.
- Working with vendors to significantly increase and accelerate raw material buys.
- Encouraging existing customers to offer any of their unused wall panels to their local healthcare facility for isolation.
“With the unprecedented health risks our country is facing, we knew we had to quickly repurpose and increase our resources to help reduce the spread of coronavirus,” said, Chris Vickers, president and CEO of STARC Systems. “Time is our biggest concern. Healthcare facilities need isolation rooms now, not two months from now. Significantly investing in our production facility will ensure we meet more demand and avoid any delays. As an ‘essential’ infrastructure company, we feel a great deal of responsibility to do all we can while maintaining the health and safety of our employees.”
Employee Safety
Putting its employees’ health first, STARC Systems has already put the following changes in place:
- Eliminated all travel and in-person meetings and moved administrative employees to remote working.
- Within the manufacturing facility, employees are co-located and the floor layout was redesigned to increase social distancing. Tools and workstations are thoroughly disinfected after each shift. Employees are required to wash their hands frequently, no visitors are allowed and daily updates on COVID-19 are provided.
- All employees received additional sick days and accelerated PTO to ensure they feel comfortable staying home when feeling sick or taking care of family members.
If you are a customer looking to connect with your local healthcare facility to offer your unused wall panels, please call 844-596-1784 Ext 2.
About STARC Systems
STARC Systems is a temporary wall containment company and leader in healthcare renovation and isolation preparedness solutions. Our temporary wall systems exceed ICRA Class IV and ASTM E-84 requirements and help reduce infection spread, while allowing healthcare facilities to easily install, move and reconfigure panels to create anterooms and AIIRs for their patients and employees. With a customer satisfaction score of 9.9 and a 91% customer reorder rate, leading healthcare facilities, including Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic continue to rely on STARC Systems to solve their temporary containment challenges. STARC Systems RealWall™ received the 2019 Healthcare Design Award.