A new hand sanitizer, Hands First, developed at St. John’s Medical Research Institute, Springfield, has hit the market.
“(A school) teacher asked me why there wasn’t an alcohol-free hand sanitizer available that lasted from the time they put it on the kids’ hands in the morning to the time the kids came back in from recess,” said Dr. Roger Huckfeldt, St. John’s Medical Research Institute’s medical director. “Having to reapply sanitizer was both time consuming and expensive.”
Huckfeldt added, “As a surgeon, I am constantly worried about the dangers of infection. Alcohol hand sanitizers help reduce that risk, but I really understood the frustrations people have with those currently on the market. That frustration got me thinking… there has to be a better way.”
So last September, the doctor and the hospital system’s research and development team went to work to find a solution.
The result is a foam product formula that kills greater than 99.99 percent of common germs and cleanses and hydrates the skin while providing temporary protection for minor cuts, scrapes and burns.
“We have tested it against most or all of the major stuff that affects the general public as well as the health care world,” he said. “We tested it against MRSA, H1N1, strep, all of the normal things that we worry about in cold and flu season and year around, not only in the hospital but in the general public.
“While other products claim lasting protection, they really only prevent bacterial re-growth and do not provide lasting protection from the recontamination that occurs with contact with hands, pencils, phones, solid surfaces,” Huckfeldt added.
Huckfeldt said one of the places that the new product is sold in Neosho is at Country Care Pharmacy.
The product is also sold at Invenohealth.com.
Inveno Health is the commercialization unit for St. John’s Medical Research Institute and is responsible for the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of products created through the Institute.
