Compactors and Balers for Nursing Homes
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities cater to residents for extended periods. The level of care provided in these facilities isn’t normally as complex as the services of a hospital, but biohazardous waste is still unavoidable. Your choice and means for waste disposal and processing needs to be efficient and cost-effective. With WESSCO’s heavy-duty compactors and balers, you get both for your nursing home facility.
Medical Waste Management at Nursing Homes
Although a nursing home is essentially an apartment complex for the elderly and the disabled, waste disposal is different from regular waste disposal at home, from the equipment to the process. A used needle at home, for example, may just be carefully wrapped and separated. But the same sharp item will be treated with extra care and processed with the right waste management equipment in a nursing home.
Consider the different types of medical waste that nursing homes should manage:
Hazardous Waste
All corrosive, flammable, reactive, and toxic waste or considered hazardous. Maintain and dispose it responsibly. Hazardous materials in nursing homes often include cleaning chemicals, disinfectants, pharmaceuticals, and sterilants. Get rid of hazardous waste properly to keep residents and staff safe.
Biohazardous Waste
Nursing homes are especially sensitive to biohazardous waste. It’s better to assume that all bodily fluids and secretions are infectious; your staff members take precautionary measures, like wearing gloves and treating even normal bandages as infectious waste. This way, your nursing home facility reduces the risk of transmitting diseases.
Pharmaceutical Waste
Be careful with all types of pharmaceutical waste. Return unused medicine to the pharmacy or, if this isn’t possible, keep them in a separate waste collection system. Take extra care with chemotherapy medication waste management. Get the advice of an experienced waste disposal contractor.
Sharp Objects
Nursing facilities aren’t typically equipped for radiation therapy. However, there may be residents who receive radiation therapy. For example, cancer treatment may include brachytherapy. This leads to human waste that might be infected with radioactive remnants. Take extra care when disposing of this waste.
Complete Collaboration
This type of infectious waste includes used needles, syringes, and blood lancets. Sharp items also include razors, broken glass, and other materials used in medical treatment that pierce the skin. When not properly disposed of, these objects increase the risk of laceration and infection for residents, staff, and waste workers.
The people living at your nursing home have different conditions. Some residents arrange short-term stays for rehabilitation after an illness, injury, or surgery. Most residents stay longer for personal care and medication monitoring. But all centers will deal with medical waste that is manageable mostly through segregation.
Much of the waste produced in nursing homes go to a landfill, but make sure to segregate potentially hazardous waste. Your nursing home will also need the right waste management equipment; a commercial compactor for example, will ensure safer and more cost-effective disposal.
In addition to the segregation of compacted waste, consider opening a recycling program. This waste stream further cuts down waste disposal costs. It also raises your facility’s environmental credentials.
Why Choose WESSCO?
Our compactors and balers are well-equipped for the waste disposal and recycling demands in nursing homes. Invest in WESSCO equipment for compacted waste that improves the overall appearance of your facility. Compacted waste also reduces trash pickups, reducing your operational expenses.
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