Inspira Health’s pharmacy teams are now making hand sanitizer for use in its medical facilities to fend off shortages caused by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Inspira set a process in motion to produce the alcohol-based product within days of the FDA granting pharmacists temporary permission to do so.

Hand sanitizer has become an almost indispensable component of hand hygiene in health care facilities and plays a critical role in keeping patients and staff safe. A nurse working a 12-hour shift will likely need to clean her hands more than 100 times. With the supply of commercially produced hand sanitizer very limited, Inspira Health is targeting to produce 50 percent, or more, of the hand sanitizer used across the health system.

“Exploring innovative solutions and new methods are core tenets of Inspira Health’s culture,” said John DiAngelo, president and CEO of Inspira Health. “I am immensely proud of how swiftly and efficiently our pharmacy teams have been able to produce and supply hand sanitizer for our organization in the midst of this unprecedented emergency. Initiatives like this are of utmost importance because they support the safety of our patients, staff and physicians, across our network.”

Throughout the production process, all Inspira Health employees are following proper safety protocols, including wearing personal protective equipment. Making alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be dangerous and should not be attempted by the general public. For quality assurance, each batch is tested with a refractometer to ensure the alcohol content meets FDA guidelines for hand sanitizer.

Inspira Health is committed to keeping the community updated on its state of readiness, the latest information on COVID-19, closures and the status of its services provided across South Jersey. Call Inspira’s COVID-19 Information Line at (800) 772-2848, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, or visit www.inspirahealthnetwork.org/covid-19.