Healthcare facilities are teeming with bacteria and viruses that make people sick, contributing to 1.4 million healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), 100,000 deaths, and up to $45 billion in additional spending every year.
Environmental Services (EVS) Technicians are the often-unseen defenders against this invisible enemy. Their efforts are integral to supporting positive patient outcomes.
This week, we celebrate them!
September 8th—14th is #HealthcareEnvironmentalServicesWeek. This week-long celebration recognizes and honors the men and women who keep our healthcare facilities clean, safe, and accessible.
Understanding EVS Impact
EVS teams ensure that chaotic, heavily trafficked healthcare facilities are clean, safe, and hygienic for every patient, staff member, and visitor.
Their responsibilities typically include thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting facilities, properly disposing of medical waste and hazardous materials, managing linen and laundry services, restocking supplies in various facility areas, and responding promptly to spills or other cleaning emergencies.
EVS teams are trained in specialized cleaning and disinfection techniques, including leveraging various technologies to make these processes ever more efficient and effective.
In collaboration with medical staff, they prepare new patient rooms and do their best to accelerate room turn times so that as many people as possible can access safe treatment spaces.
When EVS teams perform their best, medical professionals are empowered to perform their best without fear that unseen infection risks will compromise patient care or safety.
They are doing all of this while their teams are chronically understaffed and under-resourced. As one National Library of Medicine report notes, “ EVS have also described feeling undervalued due to their perceived ‘low status’ being positioned at the bottom of the hospital worker hierarchy in terms of education and pay.”
#HealthcareEnvironmentalServicesWeek is an opportunity to flip the script and celebrate their important contributions to the healthcare setting.
How to Celebrate EVS Appreciation Week
Every healthcare facility has its own culture, financial realities, and logistical challenges that will shape how #HealthcareEnvironmentalServicesWeek is celebrated. However, these easy-to-implement ideas can be applied to any healthcare organization to show appreciation for the vital work of EVS teams.
#1 Provide a Meal
EVS teams frequently work long hours for low wages. Providing a catered meal or a staff pitch-in event gives them a reprieve from their tasks and shows appreciation for their hard work.
It’s also an opportunity to bring people together, cultivating relationships between EVS teams and medical staff so they feel more connected, seen, and valued as integral members of the healthcare community.
#2 Offer Gift Cards or Goodie Bags
Gift cards to local restaurants, coffee shops, or other local businesses can extend EVS appreciation week, allowing teams to go out for lunch or enjoy a break at their convenience.
This type of personalized, flexible recognition can be very meaningful for EVS workers. Providing them with gift cards gives them the freedom to choose how and when to use the reward, rather than being limited to a single catered event.
Of course, if gift cards are prohibitively expensive or practically unrealistic, goodie bags and other small gifts can similarly communicate gratitude and support.
#3 Write Personalized Thank-You Notes
Personalized thank-you notes are a low-cost, high-impact way to show people that you care. If you manage a small team, consider writing these cards yourself; however, if your EVS team is large, make it a team effort, allowing personnel across the organization to write personalized thank-you notes to the EVS team.
Regardless of the approach, thank-you notes should be specific, timely, and offer an insight of value.
As the Harvard Business Review notes, “In the age of email and 280-character proclamations, thank-you notes are tiny reminders of the limitless potential and power of acting graciously.”
#4 Highlight EVS Stories in Internal Newsletters
Highlighting the EVS team’s work and dedication in your organization’s internal newsletter is an inexpensive and thoughtful gesture. Include photos, stories, achievements, and, most importantly, expressions of appreciation and gratitude for their expertise and hard work.
If your organization doesn’t share a regular newsletter, consider developing a “special edition” or producing a print product highlighting your EVS stories in an easily distributable format.
#5 Celebrate on Social Media
Leverage your organization’s social media channels to publicly praise the EVS team. Share posts highlighting their crucial role in maintaining a safe and clean environment for patients and staff.
This might include a dedicated EVS appreciation campaign consisting of a series of posts for the week, strategic visual content that captures your EVS team’s impact on and interactions with staff and patients, or quotes and testimonials expressing gratitude for the EVS team’s hard work.
Let’s Express Our Gratitude This Week
EVS teams are vital to the operation of any facility. They are the frontline defense against serious infections throughout a facility, ensuring that patients and staff enjoy clean, safe, and available treatment spaces.
This week, let’s celebrate #HealthcareEnvironmentalServicesWeek and remind them that they are valued healthcare community members. Let’s say thank you for all they do!