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!

The AHE awards and recognition program acknowledges and elevates professionals who have demonstrated the highest level of excellence and leadership. Award recipients are those who work towards advocating and educating themselves on best practices and standards, developing new leaders within a hospital or healthcare facility, and promoting the environmental services profession.

Applications are due June 9, 2017.

Ron Harrison, HealthFacilities Management
Pest prevention and control is a complex process that often is outsourced in health care facilities.

Health Facilities Management
The best defense against health care facility pest infestation problems is to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place.

Kevin Zelaya, Lexington Clipper-Herald
During the monthly meeting of Lexington Regional Health Center's Board of Directors, Jim Hain, Chief Operating Officer, gave a service excellence report honoring an entire department, the environmental services department.

Health Facilities Management
Cesar Perez, manager of environmental services at CaroMont Regional Medical Center, Gastonia, N.C., and fellow manager Wesley Stiles were both inspired by the great success of a staffing training program implemented earlier this year under the leadership of Environmental Services Director James Magnanti.

Infection Control Today
The first live-attenuated Zika vaccine still in the development stage completely protected mice against the virus after a single vaccination dose, according to new research from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Instituto Evandro Chagas at the Ministry of Health in Brazil.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Influenza B officially became the most frequently reported flu strain during the week of March 26, according to the most recent FluView report from the CDC.

Carrie Schuster, Healthcare Facilities Today
Each April, World Health Day celebrates the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and renews the call to action to raise public health standards around the world.

J.B. Glossinger, The Business Journals
Walking into my office, the first day on the new job as the director of my division.

George Bradt, Forbes
Your mother taught you to say please and thank you.

By Jim Henry, CHESP, Master T-CHEST

By Walter Vernon

Make yourself indispensable and advance your career! Plan your education for 2017. Visit AHE’s 2017 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events. And make sure to check out AHE's EXPRESS Learning Courses. EXPRESS is a mobile learning platform that offers educational podcasts delivered by environmental services and infection prevention thought leaders. You asked for learning opportunities that require less of a time commitment and we delivered!

CMIP, the Certificate of Mastery in Infection Prevention for Environmental Services Professionals (CMIP) is a robust certificate program which requires online pre-work and an in-person training session, along with an optional post-session capstone project/assessment. This intensive 30-hour certificate program provides Environmental Services professionals with the requisite knowledge to meet the CMS requirements for a "trained" professional in infection prevention and control specific to the clinical environment of care.