About the Manufacturer and Project Leader
With copper being used to kill bacteria surrounding at risk children, many national media outlets picked up the story of this installation and wrote articles of their own.
About the Manufacturers
List of Manufacturers that participated in this installation:
- Colonial Bronze - Cabinet Hardware
- Elkay - Sinks
- Frigo Design - Table Tops, Chair Armrests
- R & B Wagner - Stair Railing
- Rocky Mountain Hardware - Locksets, Faucets
About the Project Leader
Adam Estelle was the CDA project leaders for the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston (RMHC) installation. This was a major effort put forth by Adam and we asked him a few questions about his involvement and the project itself.
Q - Adam, how did you first get connected to the RHMC, where did the relationship start?
A - A contractor who was helping us with a clinical trial being conducted at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) was married to a manager at the Ronald McDonald House of Charleston. RMHC was following the copper research we were doing down the street at MUSC, and was curious to learn about how this technology might benefit their organization.
Q - What was your favorite part about the actual installation process?
A - Definitely when I visited the house towards the end of the project and actually saw the progress we made. For most of the project, I was coordinating things from afar, so it was hard to get a sense what we were really doing. To see how appreciative and grateful the RMHC staff and families were firsthand was really special.
Q - What was your biggest challenge throughout the installation?
A - The biggest challenge was working with the manufacturers and RMHC staff to figure out how we were going to get copper surfaces into the house. Most of the manufacturers had just started working with antimicrobial copper at the time, so there was definitely a learning curve to overcome. It was really amazing to witness how each of these companies stepped up to the challenge and came through for RMHC. All of the manufacturers are antimicrobial copper pros with full commercial product lines now, so it's fun to look back on this project and see how far we have come.
Q - Did you get to meet any of the children that will be interacting with the copper products?
A -I got to meet a few families that had stayed in the house at the unveiling event which was a real treat. You could see how much the project meant to them, knowing that we did something to help protect their kids. That was by far the best part of the project.
*Laboratory testing shows that, when cleaned regularly, antimicrobial copper surfaces kill greater than 99.9% of the following bacteria within 2 hours of exposure: MRSA, VRE, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and E. coli O157:H7. Antimicrobial copper surfaces are a supplement to and not a substitute for standard infection control practices and have been shown to reduce microbial contamination, but do not necessarily prevent cross contamination or infections; users must continue to follow all current infection control practices.