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Equipment Spotlight: Drying Cabinet & Nova 8 Software Upgrade
Every surgery, emergency procedure, and patient treatment depends on one critical factor: safe, sterile medical equipment.
Behind the scenes at the HPHA - Stratford General Hospital, the Medical Devices Reprocessing Department (MDRD) plays an essential role in patient care. This dedicated team is responsible for cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing, and preparing thousands of medical instruments used throughout the hospital each year.
While patients may never see this department in action, their work impacts nearly every area of care, from the Operating Room and Emergency Department to diagnostic imaging and inpatient units.
Thanks to donor support through the Stratford General Hospital Foundation, two important investments were made in MDRD during the 2025–26 fiscal year:
Drying Cabinet — $33,343.53
NOVA 8 Software Upgrade for the Carousel Storage System — $8,072.75
The new drying cabinet supports the safe and efficient reprocessing of delicate medical devices that cannot withstand the high temperatures of traditional washer/disinfectors. Equipment such as cystoscopes, telescopes, HD camera heads, and laryngoscope blades are manually disinfected before being placed in the cabinet for drying.
Without this equipment, MDRD staff would need to manually dry each item, creating significant delays in preparing these critical instruments for patient care.
Donor support also funded a NOVA 8 software upgrade for the department’s automated carousel storage system.
Functioning much like a vending machine for sterile supplies, the carousel stored instruments and equipment in enclosed trays that rotated vertically, maximizing storage space while helping protect items from contamination and damage.
The upgrade ensured the system could continue operating safely and efficiently while the department prepared for its transition to a new manual picking system. It also allowed the carousel to remain compatible with current hospital technology standards during this important period of change.
Together, these investments help the MDRD team continue their vital behind-the-scenes work — supporting patient safety, preventing infection, and helping care teams access the equipment they need, when they need it most.
Ally, MDRD Technician with the Drying Cabinet
