UM Shore Regional Health has contracted with Crothall Healthcare, a national health care support services provider, to manage Environmental Services at UM Shore Medical Centers at Dorchester and Easton, and at UM Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown. Founded in 1991, Crothall provides a variety of health care support services for 1,200 clients in 44 states.
Under the auspices of Crothall, a new director of Environmental Services, Jonathan Kelley, has been appointed. Kelley, who most recently directed environmental services at Carroll Hospital in Westminster, Maryland, reports to Bob Frank, UM SRH senior vice president of Operations. (EVS services at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown continue to be managed by HCS and directed on-site by Sandy Carino.)
Reporting to Kelley as on-site operations manager for UM SMC at Dorchester will be Nadine Houston; an on-site operations manager for UM SMC at Easton and Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown will be named and announced in the near future. Kelley, who is a native of Salisbury, started this past Monday and is working out of the EVS office on the north side of UM SMC at Easton (adjacent to the employee parking lot).
According to Bob Frank, progress is well under way in improving the cleanliness of the hospitals and the emergency center. “We are excited that Crothall is here and implementing a very sound, structured approach to hospital cleanliness that is sure to improve our patient satisfaction scores,” he says. The Crothall approach includes several initiatives, including:
High Profile Cleaning (HPC) – A standardized cleaning system that is designed to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections and improve patient satisfaction by through increased staff accessibility and through sanitizing high-touch surfaces. Tent cards are placed in the patient’s rooms to inform them that HPC has been completed. (Crothall’s philosophy is that the first two seconds of an EVS associate’s encounter with a patient present an opportunity to make a lasting, positive first impression. The company’s “defining moments” strategy addresses appearance, verbal and no-verbal communication, behaviors and interactions –all focused on driving patient satisfaction.)
EVS Training – EVS staff at the three facilities are undergoing Crothall training on a variety of safety topics, including blood borne pathogens, needle stick prevention, standard precautions, hand washing, waste handling, electrical and fire safety, injury prevention, incident reporting, hazardous communication and safe chemical usage
HCAHPS Strategy – changing people’s perceptions of the importance of cleanliness in the health care environment through the HPC program
ABS’s Floor Care and Carpet Care – a 12-week cycle of proactive floor cleaning projects that include scrubbing and waxing using hospital-approved chemicals. The schedule has been circulated to managers; any managers with concerns regarding the schedule or the chemicals, may contact Kelley at ext. 5398, jonathan.kelley@umm.edu.
Picture-Perfect Program – One-on-one training that educates staff in the proper way to set a room for the next patient is now in progress at all three facilities
“The Environmental Services Department is committed to providing a clean, aseptic and pleasant environment for all guests, visitors, staff and physicians through a proactive EVS program, says Kelley. “If at any time you feel an area is not receiving the attention it needs, please feel free to us know. In the meantime, we appreciate all the staff’s cooperation that is imperative to the success of our program.”