GOJO Signs Agreement with HealthPRO

New Contract Gives HealthPRO Members Ability to Purchase GOJO Hand Hygiene and Skin Health Products, including PURELL® Hand Sanitizer

AKRON, Ohio, April 10, 2013 /CNW/ - GOJO Industries, a leader of hand hygiene products, technology and skin health, today announced a new contract with HealthPRO, a group purchasing organization with 260 members representing more than 800 hospitals.

The contract provides HealthPRO members with the full line of PURELL® Hand Sanitizers and GOJO® and PROVON® hand hygiene and skin care products. It also includes dispensing technology, compliance building, educational tools and PURELL® Advanced Hand Rub, including green-certified products.

"HealthPRO member hospitals have an established safety culture, said Dave Mackay, vice president sales and marketing, healthcare markets. "We look forward to working with them to provide the most effective products, technology and education to improve hand hygiene practices and reduce healthcare associated infections (HAI). GOJO has provided hand hygiene and skin health solutions for nearly 25 years to the healthcare market. The products and programs we've pioneered have been proven to help increase hand hygiene compliance and reduce infection rates in both hospitals¹ and nursing homes."^2,7

Effective hand hygiene is imperative for healthcare facilities in reducing the number of HAIs. Each year in Canada, 165,000 hospital onset HAIs result in 9,000 deaths.³ HAIs are the fourth leading cause of death in Canada and cost the Canadian healthcare system approximately $1 billion annually.⁴

GOJO scientists and engineers developed hand hygiene formulations with unprecedented germ kill in skin friendly formulas available in many delivery system options including energy efficient touch-free dispensers guaranteed for life. GOJO, through its formulation and dispensing technology, meets the Health Canada Healthcare Personnel Handwash requirements of germ efficacy in a single application with PURELL® Advanced Hand Rub.⁵ Additionally, PURELL Advanced Hand Rub Gel is the only hand rub permitted for Professional Healthcare and Hospital use which meets the current, higher efficacy standards set by Health Canada and is proven to kill Norovirus, E coli and Staph Aureous.⁶

About GOJO
GOJO Industries, Inc. (www.gojo.com) is the inventor of PURELL® Advanced Instant Hand Sanitizer and the leading global producer and marketer of skin health and hygiene solutions for away-from-home settings. The broad GOJO product portfolio includes hand cleaning, handwashing, hand sanitizing and skin care formulas under the GOJO®, PURELL® and PROVON® brand names. GOJO formulations use the latest advances in the science of skin care and sustainability. GOJO is known for state-of-the-art dispensing technology, engineered with attention to design, sustainability and functionality. GOJO programs promote healthy behaviors for hand hygiene, skin care and compliance in critical environments. GOJO is a privately held corporation headquartered in Akron, with offices in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

About HealthPRO
HealthPRO is Canada's healthcare group purchasing organization. Founded in 1996, HealthPRO is invested in Canada's healthcare system by advancing the purchasing interests of hospitals, provincial and shared service organizations (SSOs) from coast to coast to coast. With more than 260 members representing over 800 healthcare facilities across seven provinces and the territories, HealthPRO brings together the most significant purchasing power ever assembled within Canada's healthcare system. Together, these national collective efforts save members hundreds of millions of dollars that can be directed where it is needed most – to frontline patient care.

¹ Fendler EJ, Groziak PA, Hammond BS. The Use of Alcohol Hand Sanitizer as an Effective Infection Control Strategy in an Acute Care Facility. Hilburn J. Texas Society of Infection Control Practitioners; Am J Infect Control. 1999, 27:332-338.

² Fendler EJ, Ali Y, Hammond BS. Lyons MK, Kelly MB, Vowell NA. Effects of alcohol hand sanitizer on infection control in an extended care facility. Am J Infect Control. 2002, 30:226-233.

³ Sherbrooke, Quebec, 2003-2004, Pepin J et al. Mortality attributable to nosocomial Clostridium difficile-associated disease during an epidemic caused by a hypervirulent strain in Quebec. CMAJ 2005; 173 (9): 1037-42.

⁴ Infection Prevention Products and Services: Industry Study 2526, The Freedonia Group Inc., August 2009.

⁵ Healthcare Personnel Handwash Study #110238-101, April 25, 2011, BioScience Laboratories, Bozeman, MT. Healthcare Personnel Handwash Study #121008-101, December 27, 2012, BioScience Laboratories, Bozeman, MT.

⁶ PURELL Advanced Hand Rub gel formulation . Based on the 2009 Health Canada GUIDANCE DOCUMENT Human-Use Antiseptic Drugs, EN-182959.

⁷ SJ Schweon, SL Edmonds, JKirk, DY Rowland, C Acosta, Effectiveness of a comprehensive hand hygiene program for reduction of infection rates in a long-term care facility, Am J Infect Control, 2013, 41:39-44.

SOURCE: GOJO Industries

Samantha Williams, Public Relations Director, GOJO Industries, Inc., 330-255-6397, [email protected]

http://www.gojo.com