A Simple Soap Swap Saves University Thousands

Credit: Joel Ninmann/UW-Madison University Housing

For 168 years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) has served as a public land-grant university and research institution. With more than 7,500 students who live in its 27 residence halls, the university implemented a campaign to promote hand hygiene across its residence halls to improve student health and reduce class absenteeism.

“Infectious diseases can spread quickly on any college campus, but proper handwashing with soap and water is one of the most important steps students can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others,” says Jodi Krause, assistant director of housekeeping at UW-Madison.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison was using a commercial foaming hand soap, but wanted an effective and economical product for its 600 bathrooms to improve student health.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve our campus, so we were intrigued when we were introduced to Deb,” says Krause.

In 2015, UW-Madison replaced its hand cleanser with Deb Stoko Refresh PureBac FOAM in all of the resident and staff bathrooms in its 27 residence halls because of its effectiveness in infection prevention.

“We tried the Deb foam in a resident hall and the students and staff liked it a lot better than our previous hand cleanser, so we decided to implement university wide,” Krause says.

The Deb foam helps to maintain the natural acidic protective mantle, whose function includes protecting the skin from bacterial and fungal infection. Its perfume- and dye-free formula reduces the potential for allergic reaction and skin irritation and is ideal for people who are sensitive to fragrances.

“We like the Deb foam because there’s no dye or fragrance so it doesn’t leave behind a sticky residue,” says Krause. “It also doesn’t dry out your hands like our previous product.”

Changing to the Deb Stoko Refresh PureBac FOAM allowed the University of Wisconsin-Madison to realize numerous benefits, including a $5,000 annual savings in the housing department skin care costs, given the optimal shot size and a better cost-in-use of the Deb products.

Other Refresh PureBac FOAM benefits include:
 • Savings of up to 45 percent on water consumption compared to lotion soap use.
 • Over 30 percent more hand washes compared to standard lotion soap.

“In addition to being a really great product, we also get really great service from Deb,” says Krause. “They’re always very responsive with any questions or concerns we have, and product delivery is always prompt.”