Helmer Scientific—at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine supply chain—trusts Wello to help keep their employees safe and operations running

Helmer Scientific is a leading manufacturer of medical-grade, temperature-controlled storage and processing solutions and services for pharmacy, blood bank, laboratory, and research. With more than 40 years of innovation and products in use in 125+ countries, Helmer is an international leader in temperature-controlled products used for clinical applications. COVID-19 challenged Helmer in more ways than one. The company is now front and center in the fight against the pandemic. They’re providing vaccine storage equipment, including ultra-low temperature freezers, laboratory freezers and vaccine refrigerators for the storage of COVID-19 vaccines.

For almost a year, COVID-19 had wreaked havoc on countries across the globe. In the US, hundreds of thousands of lives had been lost, families had been devastated by the deaths of loved ones, and many struggled to stay afloat financially. Approximately 60% of small businesses that closed due to mandatory orders would never reopen¹. Children were forced into remote learning, meaning many no longer had access to the reliable meals and safety that school provided. Add to that, the healthcare systems were being overloaded. One doctor, who had previously served as a US military medic, likened the experience of treating COVID patients to that of a war zone².

As vaccines were announced and the world began to consider life on the other side of the pandemic, Helmer Scientific knew they needed to keep their employees safe and their facility fully operational to meet the demand for ultra-low refrigeration, freezers, and vaccine refrigerators imperative to the distribution COVID-19 vaccine.

Helmer’s plan for keeping their employees safe and healthy

To tackle the unique challenges of the pandemic, Helmer established a task force led by Matt Chamberlain, Helmer’s EHS Specialist. “Helmer is integral in the fight against COVID-19 and other diseases. When it comes to the safety of our employees, we’re more than determined to keep our team healthy. Wello is a key piece in our plan to do that,” said Chamberlain. Charged with developing a plan to keep employees safe and business running, the team worked to research proven protocols and products. Here’s what they decided:

1. Ramp up employee education. To drive compliance, the team would need to help employees understand why new protocols were being implemented and how the health of the facility relied on each individuals’ health. The team was intentional about eliminating any gray area by making decisions and protocols as simple and prescriptive as possible.  
2. Implement a temperature screening program that would help catch even the slightest elevation in temperatures to reduce the threat of contagious outbreaks. “Temperature screening isn’t a magic bullet, but it is a very effective tool in preventing an outbreak,” noted Chamberlain.
3. Increase cleaning protocols. As a supplier of FDA-approved products, Helmer’s cleaning protocols already exceeded industry standards, now they were even more meticulous about cleaning common areas and personal workspaces. They sought environmentally friendly deep cleaning products and increased the frequency of their cleaning regimen to twice per day throughout the facility. In addition, the team developed an emergency response cleaning program in case of contamination.
4. Install sanitizing stations throughout the facility to increase hand hygiene.
5. Mandatory face masks for every individual in the building at all times, with the exception of those who were eating or drinking.
6. Control the flow of traffic and enforce social distancing throughout the facility.

When it came to temperature screening, Helmer knew precision was key. (Afterall, they are leaders in temperature control.) After researching several options, they chose the welloStationX based on a few key points:

• FDA clearance. Helmer’s research revealed Wello as the only solution that had undergone clinical trials and was granted FDA clearance.
• Trusted brand. Wello was a trusted name in the health and wellness space. While there were many temperature screening solutions on the market, most were thermal security cameras that had been retrofitted to address the challenges presented by the pandemic. Wello, on the other hand, had been developed specifically for controlling the spread of infectious disease and had been doing so since 2014.
• Convenience. Since convenience drives compliance, Matt and his team sought a solution that would be easy to install and simple for employees to use daily.
• Security. The elimination of cyber threats is a top priority for the Helmer team. They were drawn to Wello’s privacy-conscious approach and ability to securely manage data.
• Compliance. Wello’s printed badges made it easy to confirm that each employee had undergone temperature screening that day and were cleared to be in the building.
  

Quick, cost-effective, and accurate temperature screening

Prior to purchasing Wello, Helmer relied on handheld temperature screening that caused wait times of up to 30 minutes. The screenings required a fleet of third-party workers, and the results were unreliable. The team realized this wasn’t a sustainable solution.

Helmer installed five Wello stations at each facility entrance. This allowed them to increase the number of access points and eliminate crowding. It also reduced wait time drastically. Wello delivered clinically accurate temperature readings within 3 seconds, for a total screening time of 10 seconds per employee.

“Safety protocols have been forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Temperature screening is part of the new norm and will continue to be a part of Helmer’s health and safety plan for the foreseeable future.”

–Matthew Chamberlain,
EHS Specialist, Helmer Scientific

Reduce your company’s risk of an infectious outbreak with Wello. Contact us at info@welloinc.com to learn more.