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.

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’ve always looked for ways to make our built environment safer. But what if they could also make us healthier? SCA, makers of the Tork brand, looked for answers, partnering with architect and sustainability consultant Alan Scott. This white paper, Health in the Built Environment, Trends in Building and Product Certifications, outlines the way both building structures and their surrounding community affects our overall health and wellness and how we can improve upon them.

The AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative will host an April 26 webinar on a hospital-led effort to prevent violence in Chicago. Rebecca Levin, strategic director of the Injury Prevention and Research Center at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, will share lessons learned from the Strengthening Chicago’s Youth collaborative and how health care organizations can work with their communities to prevent violence. To register for the 3 p.m. ET webinar, click here.

Matt Poe, American Laundry News
Laundry and linen service providers are always looking for textile items that last longer and hold up to the rigors of daily or weekly use.

Shahid Abdul-Karim, New Haven Register
First impressions matter, especially when entering a hospital.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
While flu activity decreased in the week of April 2, activity is still elevated in the U.S., with 18 states experiencing widespread flu activity, according to the CDC's Friday FluView update.

Infection Control Today
World Immunization Week – celebrated in the last week of April – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Immunization saves millions of lives and is widely recognized as one of the world’s most successful and cost-effective health interventions.

Molly Reynolds, Inc.
It's no secret that the business world is being taken over by millennials; in a few short years, they'll make up 75 percent of the workforce.

Brent Gleeson, Forbes
Effective leadership has many obstacles.

By Ed Barr, CHESP

By Lisa Ford, CHESP

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!

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.