National Healthcare Environmental Services Week

Apotheca Inc., is celebrating National Healthcare Environmental Services Week this week and we’re taking the opportunity to thank all of our partners and colleagues in the EVS business! This year EVS week falls from September 13th through the 19th and during a global health crisis like the COVID19 lockdown it’s more important than ever to think about this pivotally important and often overlooked segment of the Healthcare industry.

EVS technicians are professionals who play an important role in health care. It is their responsibility to work with hospital and clinical staff to keep providers and patients safe and healthy with proper medical cleaning and disinfecting. They are often referred to as “the first defense against infection”, given the scope of their responsibilities they undertake substantial and detailed training, typically overseen by an EVS director managing quality control.

These Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professionals or (CHESP) are certified by The American Hospital Association (AHA) and are absolutely some of the most unsung heroes in the industry.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote that,

Environmental services (EVS) personnel have the shared responsibility to help stop healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) from spreading by working with colleagues, prioritizing areas that pose immediate safety risks, and following guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting. This interactive training illustrates the important role EVS personnel have in the prevention of HAIs.

EVS Week sponsored by the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) is a time for all of us to appreciate the exhaustive, tireless work of healthcare environmental services and housekeeping professionals in our hospitals, clinics and provider offices. It is an opportunity to show our gratitude for the team members who are on the frontlines against the COVID19 who spend countless hours cleaning and disinfecting the different healthcare environments we all inhabit on what seems a lot like permanent repeat.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health wrote,

“Our EVS team members are essential partners in our work to deliver safe, high-quality care to our patients and families. Their work is one of our most important frontline defenses against the spread of infection in our facilities. Over the past 19 months in particular, our EVS team has been extraordinary, and I’d like to bump elbows with each one of them to thank them for their efforts. I appreciate their positive attitude, demonstrated by the warm smiles and caring interactions they have with our patients, families and staff,” says Chief Nursing Officer Karen F. Clements, RN, FACHE.

There are many ways for companies to observe #HealthcareEnvironmentalServicesWeek here are a few of the more popular ideas:

• Organize a luncheon or breakfast for the specialists in your facility.
• Take some time to spend some time in their shoes, learning about their protocols and what it takes to do their job every day.
• Thank them for the outstanding work they do every day.
• Offer a token of your appreciation to show how you recognize the work they do.

The Iredell Health System wrote,

“The environmental services team is the last touch between a patient leaving and the next patient coming in. We want to make sure that we’re preventing the spread of any infection that the new patient did not have,” said Chris Coble, director of environmental services at Iredell Health System.

“I think we’re busier during this COVID outbreak than we were last year. We’re back to seeing the same inpatient COVID volumes as we were in December and January,” said Coble.

Housekeepers also clean patient-occupied rooms, including those patients with COVID.
“To clean COVID rooms, our employees have to ‘gown-up’ every time they enter that room. Then, when they come out of the room to dispose of items, they have to re-gown to go back in,”

“Without nurses, we would be in bad shape. But without our team, especially the staff pulling the waste out of the building, the hospital would shut down,” said Coble.

The importance of these workers to the entire healthcare industry cannot be overstated, as important as any physician, nurse, medical provider, pharmacist or distributor these men and women have kept beds, wards and clinics open around the world and are deserving of our respect and gratitude.

This week, National Healthcare Environmental Services Week honors the men and women who ensure safe, comfortable, and clean facilities all year long. These dedicated employees provide outstanding services. Their knowledge and skill not only keep medical facilities running smoothly, but they help support positive patient outcomes.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨 to our 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 Environmental Services staff⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Apotheca Wholesale Pharmaceuticals is well equipped and ideally suited to help your business wade through the uncertain changes that 2021 will bring. We have all of the qualities you’re looking for in a Pharmaceutical distributor and we’re in this together.

Contact us today at Customerservice@apothecainc.com or call us at 602-252-5244.