Cleaning and sanitizing are critical steps every day in maintaining a healthy environment — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As consumers scrambled for chlorine bleach-based products, the need grew even more magnified for hospital systems like Tanner. Two Carrollton businesses – RH2O Engineering and Southwire Company – stepped forward quickly to support Tanner.
When news of critical healthcare supply shortages spread, Carroll County resident Timothy Ayers, PhD, saw how he and his company could support those working on the front lines of the growing pandemic.
Ayers serves as regional manager and chemist for RH2O Engineering, Inc., a privately-owned water treatment company that manufacturers water treatment chemicals and provides expertise in their application. The brother of a physician, Dr. Ayers also had a deep understanding of the implications of a cleaning supply shortfall for a hospital.
Connecting through Tanner’s Facebook page, Dr. Ayers offered an unexpected donation of five 5-gallon buckets of concentrated bleach. When diluted properly with water, the donation equals about 1,000 32-ounce spray bottles — and enables Tanner’s staff to continue cleaning patient areas and equipment throughout the system’s five hospitals, almost 40 practice locations and other facilities even with Tanner’s rigorous cleaning and sanitizing protocols.
“When it became apparent that disinfectants would be in short supply, I knew it would be important for us at RH2O to do our part to help healthcare facilities fill this need,” said Dr. Ayers. “I was born at Tanner and so were both of my children, and I appreciate how important Tanner Health System and its employees are to this community. I would also like to thank E&C Chemicals here in Carrollton for helping to locate sanitizing agents throughout this crisis.”
The donation by RH2O Engineering brought peace of mind to Tanner’s supply team.
“It’s comforting to know that we don’t have to worry about a critical supply like bleach,” said Chuck Wright, Tanner’s supply chain vice president.
Dr. Ayers didn’t stop there, also identifying a back-up supply of ethyl alcohol, which requires a special license for handling through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for use in making hand sanitizing gel. The highly flammable form of alcohol is desirable for its quick evaporation properties, but Tanner does not possess the EPA license.
That’s where Dixie Street neighbor Southwire Company stepped in. The U.S. leader of wire and cable solutions had the required EPA license, facilities and expertise to handle ethyl alcohol and offered its labs, research and design engineers and chemists to help without hesitation.
Already designated an essential manufacturer during the COVID-19 crisis, Southwire welcomed the opportunity to engage its organization in helping Tanner and RH2O work through how best to manage the ethyl alcohol option, said Metals Executive Vice President Charlie Murrah, who also serves as Southwire’s COVID-19 team executive lead.
“Southwire and Tanner have grown up together, and we are delighted to be able to support the hospital, its frontline workers and patients during this difficult time,” said Murrah. “Our experts recognized right away that we can do this and worked quickly to assess all of the potential actions needed for the safe, secure handling of this chemical.”
Yet another chapter was added to the Tanner Health System and Southwire story, which dates back to 1949. That’s the year Southwire founder Roy Richards Sr. and a group of physicians and other community leaders came together to build the hospital for the Carrollton community.
Tanner Marketing Vice President Kelly Meigs finds it heartwarming that people all over the community have come together to support Tanner, its frontline workers and patients during this unsettling and challenging time.
“We are so fortunate to be part of a community of people who have the desire, expertise and resources to make such a difference — from face masks and face shields — to meals and treats for our frontline workers who are caring for patients and keeping our hospitals running, to cleaning supplies that we need to maintain a healthy, healing environment,” said Meigs.
More on how Tanner’s responding to the COVID-19 pandemic can be found at tanner.org/ncov.