Lebanon VAMC opens new sterile processing service facility

Every day, in health care facilities nationwide, providers reuse medical equipment (such as surgical instruments, accessory devices, and endoscopes) that has been properly cleaned and sterilized. At VA facilities, SPS ensures instruments are properly sterilized before they are reused. VA SPS teams, who reprocess instruments, are at the forefront of the department's fight against hospital-acquired infections.

The $2.4 million facility is nearly 2,000 square feet larger than the previous one and has more advanced technology. The new space will increase productively by nearly 65 percent, according to Rich Lambdin, the chief of the 23-person department.

“The modernization of the new space and centralization of technology will optimize and improve motion management and decrease safety risks. The upgrades will no doubt make our process and center safer and more efficient,” said Lambdin.

Earlier this year, Lebanon VAMC’s SPS was the first VA medical center in the nation to use a FDA approved process to sterilize and reuse N95 masks.

The old SPS space will be repurposed.

Lebanon VA Medical Center is one of 170 medical centers in the nation with the sole purpose of providing world-class medical care to America’s Veterans. Lebanon VAMC serves a nine-county area in South Central Pennsylvania covering Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, Schuylkill and York counties. Lebanon VAMC also currently oversees community clinics located in Lancaster, Mechanicsburg, Pottsville, Wyomissing, York and Fort Indiantown Gap. If you are a Veteran, you may be eligible to receive care and benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more, call (717) 272-6621, ext. 6000.

Douglas A. Etter, Chief Communications Officer

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