Purdue startup creates bedside handwashing technology
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — A Purdue University-affiliated startup has developed a way for patients to wash their own hands using soap and water without leaving a hospital bed.
Respiratory Therapist Angie Washburn founded Project Process and devised a portable bedside sink.
“I realized through my time in health care and business that there needed to be a better way to advance patient care by washing hands with soap and water at the bedside,” Washburn said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of soap and water in helping to stop the spread of disease and improve patient health. Sometimes things like hand sanitizer and wipes are not effective and you need soap and water, such as when hands are visibly dirty.”
Greenfield’s Hancock Regional Hospital is serving as a test site for the new technology.
Washburn finished the Firestarter program with the Purdue Foundry, which is an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub housed in Purdue’s Discovery Park. Washburn’s startup is one of six high-growth businesses that make up the Foundry’s Double Down Experiment.
Washburn worked with the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center to create a prototype of the bedside sink, and she has also collaborated with some health care companies to refine the model.