There’s Safety in the CKV Air!
As you’re reading this, you have most likely taken a breath or two. Go ahead, take another! Often, we take our precious breath and our fresh air for granted, but Cross Keys Village cares deeply about indoor air quality. In fact, the Mission Point Health Care Center was built with a 100% fresh air system, not recirculated. “We have always had a good system here at Cross Keys Village,” explains Senior Administrator of Facilities Jay Rohrbach. “We consistently move more fresh air into the buildings than what code requires.” Since the 80s, Mission Point has had rooftop units that pull fresh air in and conditions it before it is pushed through the building. Jay shares that we are currently in the process of replacing one unit a year. “With a price tag of $250,000 apiece, it quickly becomes very expensive.”
Always a step ahead
Ever mindful since the early days of COVID-19, President/CEO Jeff Evans made it a priority to implement best practices and indoor air management strategies that would reduce the risk of transmission and exposure to airborne COVID-19.
Under Jeff’s leadership, Jay worked out a thorough plan with the maintenance team, and the enhanced air management project began in earnest during the summer of 2021. As of the writing of these lines, we are almost done modifying our existing HVAC systems to include bipolar ionization in all common areas of Mission Point, Personal Care, Brookside, Harmony Ridge and Hearthside. The addition of bipolar ionization will increase air purification beyond what the filters on the existing mechanical systems can accomplish. Increasing the MERV ratings of filters isn’t a practical solution in existing equipment. Instead, bipolar ionization allows the existing filtration system to work more efficiently. It causes all the “nasty” air particulates, including dust and other pathogens, to stick to ions created by the equipment, creating bigger aggregates of particulates that are easily caught by the filters. By filtering out airborne particulates, exposure to pathogens such as allergens and COVID-19 will be greatly reduced.
In addition to this significant and cutting-edge enhancement to our existing air filtration equipment, dry hydrogen peroxide devices were positioned in large gathering spaces where adding a small quality of a safe disinfectant to the air is advisable. You can see those devices, that may look to the uninitiated eye like wall speakers, in the new Wellness Studio and the Classroom/Theater. This technology blows tiny amounts of peroxide into the air. The agent is not harmful to breathe, but it is strong enough to kill bacteria and viruses, including COVID-19 in spaces where groups will be breathing the same air.
How much does it cost?
When completed in January 2022, the project will have cost roughly $200,000 for equipment, not counting supplies and maintenance of the new machines. CKV was fortunate to receive a $15,000 Indoor Air Management Strategies grant from the PA Office of Long-Term Living that will help with the cost of the bipolar ionization project.