Hand Hygiene System Wins Popular Science's 2009 "Best of What's New" Award

Xhale Innovations, Inc. announces that its hand hygiene system, HyGreen, is a recipient of the 2009 "Best of What's New" award from Popular Science magazine.

"For 22 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us - those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our views of what's possible in the future," said Mark Jannot, editor-in-chief of Popular Science. "The Best of What's New Award is the magazine's top honor, and the 100 winners -- chosen from among thousands of entrants -- represent the highest level of achievement in their fields."

Hygreen was chosen for its use of technology to safeguard health.  Designed to provide the first line of defense in the control of healthcare-associated infections, HyGreen actively reminds busy healthcare workers to wash their hands while recording all handwashing events and patient-staff interactions in the hospital. This definitive tool effectively monitors adherence to hand hygiene protocols and can track infectious disease vectors.

"Imagine if you or a loved one went to the hospital and acquired a life-threatening infection because a healthcare worker did not wash his or her hands," says Richard Melker, MD, PhD, one of the inventors of HyGreen.  "The CDC reports that 270 people die every day from healthcare-associated infections.  That is two and a half times the number of people who die daily from car accidents. Because poor hand hygiene is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections, I feel HyGreen is the most important invention I've ever helped to develop."

Xhale Innovations is currently launching HyGreen and is now taking orders for its nationwide rollout of the product in early 2010.