Israel’s ‘ Soapy’ sinks could help stop spread of COVID- 19
The coronavirus crisis has increased global awareness of the need for improved hand hygiene, a key component in helping prevent the spread of COVID- 19, and Soapy, an Israeli company, has now brought handwashing into the 21st Century.
Soapy has turned the sink into a hi- tech device to help ensure that even in the most important environments – such as hospitals and schools – hands get really clean.
The company offers AI- enhanced, Internetconnected, eco- friendly, hygiene micro- stations that help users wash their hands according to World Health Organization standards.
“We have drones, self- driving cars, and so many other things supporting our environment,” said company founder and CEO Max Simonovsky. “What we found is that when you go back to something so basic like hand hygiene, you don’t have any smart tools to support you.
With every use, the system offers step- by- step guidance for an optimal wash, tracking how well you have done, and it lets you know in real time. The system provides instant, unlimited warm water and a special proprietary hand soap but it uses 95% less water and 60% less soap than if you were to wash at a regular sink, the company claims.
If customized, Soapy sinks offer user recognition, temperature measurement and instant high temperature notifications – essential during the era of coronavirus.
The company also offers a similar platform for hand sanitizing gel.
Sheba Medical Center has already installed both systems throughout its coronavirus wards and at other key locations across the hospital to help ensure improved hygiene for both its medical and non- medical staff.
“Sheba installed the units… to provide staff with a simple and supportive tool to make sure they can sanitize their hands – to keep employees safe and the patients safe,” Simonovsky told The Jerusalem Post.
He said the decision to install Soapy was made by Dr. Gili Regev- Yochay, who runs the hospital’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology unit. She is also responsible for overseeing the testing and implementation of new technologies for COVID- 19 at the medical center.
“One of the main risks in the coronavirus department is not coronavirus – the patients already have it – but the other diseases or infections that might complicate the treatment of the patients,” Simonovsky said. “We want to make sure that if you have someone going into the department with another disease that it will not spread around.”
The other aspect is the real- time feedback. The system tells staff if they have washed their hands properly and since the machines take the user’s temperature at multiple points during washing, someone who might have come to work healthy but has started to develop symptoms during the day could be identified sooner and can be stopped before they have a chance to spread the virus.
Finally, since all the information that is collected through the system’s unique sensor is sent to the “Soapy Wisdom” cloud where it is analyzed, it can return overall data on how the hospital or other location is doing and this can help gauge general hand cleanliness.
“It’s about understanding what you cannot see in terms of disease and spread of disease from your hands to everyone around you,” Simonovsky said.
When Simonovsky and his partner, Alex Orlovsky, founded the company, coronavirus did not exist. The idea came from a conversation Simonovsky had with his young child about why washing hands is important.
The first Soapy prototypes were designed for schools in rural areas that have limited access to clean water – helping to prevent child morbidity and mortality. But they quickly learned that hand hygiene was not only a third- world challenge – the food industry, elder care homes and schools could all benefit from such a solution.
It took the company three years of research and four prototypes to create the modern Soapy micro- stations and they are now installed in 12 countries.
Since COVID- 19, business has grown so much it is hard to keep up with the demand, Simonovsky said.
Their website includes a section dedicated to the virus with a note that “Soapy hygiene micro- stations can help to halt the spread of COVID- 19 and literally save lives.”