Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Hygiene Specialist announces ‘Excellence’ Award recipients
UMF Corporation has announced the recipients of the company's 10th annual Hygiene Specialist Excellence award, which acknowledges the important contribution of environmental services departments in hospitals and long-term care facilities across the US.
Environmental Service Aides Elida Gardella and Lourdes Rosenwasser of Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York, are this year's recipients of the award.
"We are elated that UMF Corporation has recognized Lourdes and Elida with the National Hygiene Specialist Award," says Felix Nazario, administrative director of Environmental Services at Mount Sinai South Nassau. "Infection prevention and control are top priorities for Mount Sinai South Nassau. The combination of outstanding employees such as Lourdes and Elida, the right products, and the right training make our hospital a pillar in the healthcare community when it comes to infection prevention."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, on any given day, about one in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare associated infection. Though mostly preventable, HAIs such as Clostridium difficile (C. diff) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occur in all types of patient and extended care settings. C. diff, for example, can result from the bacteria found on environmental surfaces in healthcare environments. Without proper cleaning of such surfaces, cross-contamination can occur.
A recent study in the American Journal of Infection Control showed that, with the proper ES protocols in place, C. diff rates fell to zero over the course of 1,000 patient days. Management at leading health systems understand and recognise the importance of ES as part of an enterprise-wide multimodal intervention plan to combat such infections.
UMF Corporation CEO George Clarke says: ”We established the Hygiene Specialist Excellence Award to recognise the invaluable contributions of the unheralded environmental services departments across the country. ”UMF Corporation is committed to increasing awareness and recognition of all these dedicated professionals who are so critical in the battle against preventable HAIs. When we reviewed the nominations, it was obvious that these two individuals deserved recognition. Therefore, we decided to award both Elida and Lourdes, who serve as the first line of defence in ensuring safe patient environments are maintained at Mount Sinai South Nassau."
During her 10 years working in the 12-room Mount Sinai South Nassau critical care unit, Elida Gardella has been one of the hospital's top performers in an extremely delicate unit. With daily cleaning, she ensures the CCU is disinfected to the highest standards. She also performs daily terminal and steam cleaning, and carries out her own floorcare. Her ATP (adenosine triphosphate) testing results - which are used to verify cleanliness of hospital surfaces - consistently are stellar.
Lourdes Rosenwasser has worked in Mount Sinai South Nassau intensive care unit since 2012, performing highly effective daily cleaning as well as terminal cleaning and steam cleaning. Her ATP results are great, and she also maintains an excellent floorcare routine in the 10-room unit.
Says Felix Nazario: ”Elida and Lourdes not only perform their jobs excellently on a daily basis, but they train other members of our ES staff and regularly go above and beyond. They are very dedicated and regularly achieve a very high level of excellence."
UMF Corporation is a leader in the research and development of high-performance textiles for the infection prevention and commercial cleaning markets. Through extensive testing, exhaustive analysis and the commitment of significant human and financial resources, new antimicrobial technologies have been merged with innovative product designs that are redefining the future of clean.
9th January 2020