UMF Corporation Seeks Nominations for Third Annual Hygiene Specialist Excellence Award

UMF Corporation, a leading developer of infection prevention products, is seeking nominations for its third annual Hygiene Specialist Excellence award. The award was established to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of environmental services (ES), the first line of defense, in providing a safe patient environment and reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

ES managers are invited to nominate a dedicated housekeeper of their choice to receive the award. Last years recipient was Karren Keitt, a member of the ES team at the Regional Medical Center (RMC) in Orangeburg, SC. In his nomination of Keitt, RMC ES director Henry Miller wrote, Karren knows the role she plays in preventing patient infections and that her work must be performed properly. Every area of our medical center wants Karren to be their ES worker and her scores for service have remained a perfect 100 percent. She is a blessing to RMC and to RMC patients.

Nominations forms are available at www.perfectclean.com. Nominations should be submitted on or before Dec. 31, 2012. The recipient will be announced in January 2013. The Hygiene Specialist Excellence award includes an all-expense-paid vacation for two to South Beach, Fla., including airfare and accommodations.

The award is part of UMF Corporations Hygiene Specialist program, which is focused on training, education and ongoing reinforcement of infection prevention best practices for Environmental Services. The program increases awareness and promotes safe-patient environmental hygiene standards related to reducing preventable HAIs.

We want to help elevate the role of ES within the hospital hierarchy and help ensure they receive the respect theyre due, says George Clarke, CEO of UMF Corporation.

This years Hygiene Specialist Excellence award comes as more hospitals are realizing that environmental hygiene plays a vital role in improving patient satisfaction, reducing preventable HAIs and the resulting re-admissions. This includes the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which is a nationally standardized survey that captures patients perspectives of their hospital care, including cleanliness of the hospital environment.