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News Release

For immediate release                       Contact: Melissa Nowitz 508-553-3993

Momentum Builds for
Pro Bono "Safe Lifting Environment" Campaign

Franklin, MA – January 21, 2006 – Liko North America, sponsor of the pro bono "Safe Lifting Environment" healthcare industry awareness campaign, has announced that more than 500 hospitals and long term care facilities have requested Starter Kits and are in various stages of evaluating or deploying the innovative campaign.  The cornerstone of the campaign is a new addition to the safe patient handling movement, a universal safe lifting symbol that hospitals or nursing homes can use to continuously remind their caregivers of the requirement to practice safe lifting at all times.

 The Safe Lifting Environment campaign.

Safe patient lifting is a key component of caregiver injury prevention, yet many healthcare facilities have had difficulty getting their personnel to participate in so-called minimal lift programs.  Liko’s development and sponsorship of the Safe Lifting Environment campaign is designed to raise public and workplace consciousness about preventing injuries through safer patient handling.   The campaign materials are being provided to healthcare facilities free of charge for use on web sites, on facility doors and windows, in individual units, and for use in advertising, newsletters, and related communications activities.  Liko’s sponsorship is non-commercial in nature and was prompted by requests from several hospitals that were experiencing high rates of caregiver injuries despite having purchased lifts and having trained their personnel. 

A principal objective of the campaign is to enable healthcare facilities to create safe lifting "environments" and require their caregiver personnel to practice safe lifting within those defined zones. The campaign, similar to the highly successful "no smoking" campaign, is based on use of icons that require caregivers to obey the facility’s safe lifting directives.  In general, safe lifting involves use of modern lifting equipment and techniques in place of outdated practices based on manual lifting and body mechanics training.

Campaign elements, including a "flash" animation for web sites, graphic elements, and suggestions for common usage, are available from a special download site, www.safeliftingenvironment.com.    Starter Kits can be ordered from the site as well.

Liko is one of the world’s leading suppliers of patient lift and transfer solutions.  The company’s products include mobile lifts, overhead ceiling mounted systems, and a variety of injury prevention solutions.  For more information on the Safe Lifting Environment campaign, contact Liko North America, 842 Upper Union Street, Franklin, MA 01038; telephone (888) 545-6671 or (508) 553-3993; fax (508) 528-6642; or visit the Liko website at www.liko.com