Inside HFM

Celebrating health care's environmental services professionals

AHE recognizes two hospitals for outstanding performance in hospital cleaning and disinfection
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Health Facilities Management is honored once again to profile the winners of the Environmental Services Departments of the Year competition, presented by the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) and sponsored by Tork, an Essity brand.

Now entering its second decade, the award recognizes and celebrates best practices in cleaning and caring for the environment by highlighting the outstanding achievements of leading-edge environmental services teams in maintaining high levels of success in infection prevention, environmental sustainability and stewardship, use of technology, patient satisfaction, education and training in critical areas, and more.

In the article about the JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, you’ll learn how close collaboration, training and adoption of new technology led to successful infection-prevention and waste-management efforts which, in turn, helped to maintain high levels of employee morale. Likewise, the profile on BayCare’s St. Joseph’s Hospital–North, Lutz, Fla., tells how an emphasis on training and certification as well as some additional technology has led to improved infection-prevention performance, patient satisfaction and cleaning efficiency.

The awards will be presented later this month at AHE’s Exchange Conference & Solution Center in Orlando, Fla. The premier event of the health care environmental services profession, the Exchange program also will spotlight other awards for managers and staff who’ve excelled at maintaining a safe and patient-friendly built environment and helped to raise the level of the profession.

Additionally, the conference program will feature numerous sessions on topics like leadership, career development, efficiency and productivity, cleaning and infection prevention, and regulatory compliance as well as accreditation courses and an exhibition featuring the top vendors serving the environmental services field.

As the Environmental Services Department of the Year’s media sponsor, we urge you to read about the exceptional work being performed by the environmental services departments at the JPS hospital and BayCare’s St. Joseph’s facility.

Mike Hrickiewicz is editor of Health Facilities Management.