Hospitals can play many different roles in people’s lives. It can be a place of happiness, where a family comes together to celebrates over a new life being born. It can be a place of hope, where we take our loved ones if they have become ill and need medical attention or need to undergo surgery from an accident. Unfortunately, it can also be a place of sadness, where we may lose the ones we love from an illness or accident. Because so many vulnerable lives come in and out of hospitals, we need to make sure that they are as clean and sanitary as they can be!
One area of hospitals that tends to gets overlooked and go without being cleaned is the ductwork and ventilation system. Duct cleaning is an important part of keeping a hospital a clean environment for everyone that enters. Ductwork is out of sight, out of mind, but can become a breeding ground for dangerous pollutants if not properly cleaned. Bacteria, viruses, mold, and fungus that grow inside dirty ductwork can cause devastating harm to patients with weakened immune systems. And while hospitals do have specialized air pressure rooms for highly contagious patients, the hospital air quality is not as heavily controlled in standard rooms.
Hospitals are supposed to provide a clean and safe room for patients who are recovering from an illness or have just undergone surgery. It is assumed that indoor air is safer and healthier for those who have immune system issues. However, indoor air tends to be more polluted than outdoor air, especially after construction or renovation. Indoor air can then be up to 1000 times dirtier than outdoor air. There have been numerous cases of a patient getting sick, or even dying, from being exposed to polluted air in the hospital.
This is hazardous for anyone, in particularly people who are forced to spend most of their time indoors. Today people in general are spending more time indoors than they used to. In fact, some statistics say that up to 90% of our time is spent indoors. That’s a lot of time to be exposed to and breathing in polluted air. Exposure to indoor air pollution for too long can cause health problems for anyone, including asthma, respiratory issues, nausea, headaches, and even cancer.
When people walk into a hospital they want to be able to walk out again. Having your ductwork cleaned can help improve the air quality and keep patients with weakened immune systems safe.
