PHOTO > Some of the terrific people in our Warrnambool campus environmental services team: (back row from left) Chris Gurney, Liz Conn, Jenny Cameron, Shirley White, Frank Moloney, (middle row) Terri Dodoro, Jo Rundell, Judy Foley, Judy Gapes, (front row) Bronwyn Vanderstarre, Jamie Sabo and Sally Edwards.
To all of our environmental services colleagues, thank you for providing all of us – staff, patients, consumers, residents, clients, visitors and volunteers – with exceptionally clean and safe environments. Thank you for the work you do that continues to exceed the hospital cleaning guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services. And thank you for always doing all of this with a smile. Nothing is too big or too small.
‘Our cleaning staff are renowned for their high quality work and for ensuring we maintain an infection-free environment,’ explains service development executive director Jamie Brennan. ‘Over the past 12 months our environmental services team has averaged an exceptional 95/100 score for all monthly internal cleaning audits. In the last three months, that score’s been even higher: 98/100. This makes South West Healthcare one of the most-consistently cleanest health services in Victoria.’
And how remarkable these results are, when you consider the pandemic challenges of the past eight months. These workers have been on the COVID front line, cleaning the rooms of COVID-positive patients and undertaking additional precautionary cleaning to keep everyone safe.
As environmental services coordinator Jamie Sabo rightly says: ‘The fact that we’ve had zero hospital-acquired transmissions of COVID-19 within our hospitals and other facilities to date is a testament to the great work the environmental services team has been putting in, day and night, for the duration of the pandemic.’