Celebrating Hospital Environmental Services Departments

Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois, was one of three U.S. hospitals to receive the Environmental Services Department of the Year Award. The Association for the Health Care Environment (AHA), part of the American Hospital Association, gives the award each year to hospitals in three categories based on size.

Other winners were Jane Phillips Medical Center, part of St. John Health System, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in the 1- to 249-bed category and Children’s Medical Center in Dallas in the 250- to 499-bed category. The Springfield hospital won in the 500-plus bed category.

The award recognizes the contributions made by a hospital’s environmental services department to the overall patient experience and achieving a healthcare organization’s mission. It also acknowledges departments for maintaining high levels of performance in areas including cleaning, disinfecting, infection prevention, environmental sustainability and stewardship, technology use, patient satisfaction, education and training.

The awards will be presented in September in Columbus, Ohio, at the AHE's Exchange education conference. But in the meantime, AHE celebrated Environmental Service Week (Sept 10-15) by giving five EVS departments a chance at a free pizza party by sharing their plan to celebrate with their team.