It takes a village to keep a hospital running in typical times. Current times are anything but typical, and yet, the staff at Ivinson Memorial Hospital are stepping up to take on COVID-19 right behind frontline healthcare workers. They are the team behind the team, and “essential” is not enough to describe them.
Isolation Precautions with Environmental Services
Anne Johnston has become very familiar with the process of putting on (donning) and removing (doffing) personal protective equipment (PPE) since the coronavirus outbreak. Environmental Services at Ivinson have been busier than ever keeping our hospital disinfected and safe.
As recommendations around COVID-19 evolve every day, Tammy Gardea, Environmental Services supervisor, is finding new ways to keep her team ahead of the curve.
“I’ve been in scrubs working the floors with my team this week” Tammy says. With heightened cleaning procedures facility-wide there’s more work to do and, sometimes, less staff to do it. “We are disinfecting high touch areas every hour on the hour. A lot of my staff has had to take on additional duties and covering areas that are outside of their usual schedule, some are picking up extra shifts.”
Following standard isolation and airborne procedures, environmental services are gowning up to ensure cleanliness and sanitation for all.
“We clean everything,” Tammy said. “We strip the entire room, change the curtains, we scrub the walls, everything.”
Taking on more each day, Environmental Services is keeping our entire hospital sanitized and ready to care for more patients.
“My team is doing an amazing job, really going above and beyond to keep everyone that comes through these doors safe. We don’t know what is coming next but we are doing everything we can to prepare for it.”