AHE has started this initiative to encourage professionals in the field to begin, or continue to refer to the departments and the personnel caring for the healthcare environment as environmental services professionals rather than as housekeepers, janitors and custodians. The staff and management teams responsible for maintaining the clinical environment of care require different skills and competencies from those needed in the commercial cleaning and general maintenance industry and it's time we address this critical distinction.

Please help us redefine healthcare environmental services!

We need YOU! AHE is gathering input from environmental services departments across the country to identify baseline staffing productivity standards. The results of this data gathering will be used in building staffing models and providing metrics for environmental services directors. You can be a key player in identifying and establishing these important staffing criteria for our industry.

PR Newswire
In recognition of her exceptional efforts to protect and enhance patient health for the past 14 years, Jean Williams, an environmental services professional at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio, has received the 2016 Heart of Healthcare Award.

Becky Mollenkamp, CleanLink
Cleaning can be hazardous work. In fact, 20 percent of all on-the-job accidents in the United States happen in just five industries, and janitorial is one of them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Brad Keyes, Healthcare Facilities Today
There is no specific NFPA standard that speaks directly to corrugated cardboard boxes/shipping boxes.

Matt Poe, American Laundry News
When it comes to delivering good hygiene in healthcare facilities, there is no one rule. There is a set of fundamentals. There are many different recipes.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
With at least one Zika case reported in every state in the U.S., except Alaska, hospitals and health systems across the country are taking steps to prepare for a full-fledged Zika outbreak, according to a Premier survey.

Anuja Vaidya, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Heat exchangers installed by hospitals to conserve energy can promote growth of Legionella pneumophila in their hot water systems, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

Infection Control Today
The risk of viral infections is known to be affected by physical activity, but little information is available regarding the more serious infections caused by bacteria.

Andrea Thompson, Fortune
Twenty-eight years ago, I raised my right hand and took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.

Rich Razgaitis, Business News Daily
Author and motivational speaker Charlie "Tremendous" Jones once said, "You'll be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read."

By Sheryl S. Jackson

By John Scherberger

Make yourself indispensable and advance your career! Plan your education for 2016. Visit AHE’s brand-new 2016 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events.

The designation of AHE Fellow (FAHE) recognizes current AHE members for reaching the highest level of education and achievement in both the Association and in the environmental services field. Only presented to Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professionals (CHESP), FAHE status is given to active members who have excelled in specific areas and have submitted an acceptable, original, unpublished paper on a current aspect of environmental services.