Trinity Guardion, a leader in hospital bed hygiene solutions, announced the completion of a $6 million financing, including new funding of $3.5 million in a Series B funding round. This investment is aimed at accelerating the production and commercialization of the innovative Soteria Bed Barrier System. Queen City Angels led this funding round, and other investors included Tamiami Angel Fund, Market Street Ventures, and RKCA.
The Soteria Bed Barrier received FDA clearance in late 2022, including the assignment of a unique product code in recognition of this product’s breakthrough nature. The Bed Barrier is cleared to provide a protective physical barrier between the bed and mattress equipment and the patient to prevent soiling. Mattress and bed soiling can spread infection between patients and break down the mattress before the warrantied lifespan.
Compromised hospital mattresses are at a near crisis level, and they potentially expose millions of patients a year to previous patients’ bodily fluids that have leaked inside, which can lead to infection outbreaks. Over the last decade, Independent healthcare safety bodies such as the FDA, ECRI, and the Healthcare Surfaces Institute have called the mattress. As hospitals need faster room turnover to accommodate the number of patients requiring a stay and as staff shortages increase, leading to off-label shortcuts in the Manufacturer’s Instructions for the cleaning process have become standard-operating procedures in many institutions.
Conference surveys show most hospitals are using legacy cleaning and disinfection processes that are causing mattress failures that do not align with the manufacturer’s instructions for use (MIFU) and this voids manufacturer’s warranties. MIFU compliance is challenging to complete due to the time required to complete between patients.
Soteria’s easy to use, launderable and reuseable bed barrier covers the mattress and the bed deck from patient fluids leaking into mattress cracks or onto the bed frame. Because of the protection, the Soteria MIFU also reduces the time required to turn over the mattress and bed between one patient and the next.
Research has shown a connection between failed, improperly clean, and disinfected mattresses and subsequent infections in patients. And a 2023 peer-reviewed study from Emory University is the latest to establish a link between mattresses and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). This study showed that beds could infect a new patient up to 90 days after being used by a previous patient with C-diff. Protecting beds and mattresses from fluid infiltration enhances patient safety.
The Trinity Guardion also validated laundry process for its Soteria Bed Barrier offers advanced protection against pathogens and spores, achieving an exceptional 99.9999% removal rate. And peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated a 50% reduction in hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections when using the barrier, highlighting the system’s efficacy.
Essential to this innovation, Trinity Guardion offers customers with Soteria Ecosystem, a transformative solution that integrates RFID technology with automation to manage Soteria Bed Barriers. This cloud-based software takes a data-driven approach to bed reprocessing, ensuring clean bed barriers are ready when needed. Plus, it streamlines the supply chain process, from tracking barriers between hospital departments and laundry facilities to providing accurate and timely bed management. With features like bulk scanning, automated workflow assistance, and real-time reporting metrics, the system enables hospitals a way to enable and validate usage of this innovation.
Earlier this summer, the company had expanded its offering with the launch of the Soteria Neonatal Mattress Barrier, the first and only microbiological barrier and disinfecting service designed specifically for neonatal care. This solution simplifies the reprocessing of warmer and incubator mattresses, ensuring protection for vulnerable newborns. This solution meets a leading manufacturer’s instructions for use (MIFU) and significantly reduces the burden on hospital staff while extending the lifespan of mattresses.
KEY QUOTES:
“Since our inception, Trinity Guardion has been committed to building collaborative partnerships with hospitals that prioritize patient safety, providing innovative solutions through advanced bed reprocessing. This strategic investment will enable us to execute our commercial strategy, strengthen our existing partnerships, and extend the reach of our Soteria Bed Barrier System to new healthcare facilities. We have chosen investors who share our commitment to hospital patient safety and innovation, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.”
- Bruce Rippe, Founder and CEO of Trinity Guardion
“Hospital surfaces such as beds and mattresses are proven vectors of hospital-acquired infections. The only tools available are old-school disinfectants and UV Lights. Trinity’s solution provides cleaner surfaces that published research proves reduces hospital-acquired infections.”
- QCA investor and Trinity Guardion Board member, Rich Grant
