MD Anderson Cancer Center, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital honored by Health Facilities Management magazine as the 2014 Environmental Services Departments of the Year, according to an article on the magazine's website.

At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the primary goal of the environmental services (ES) department is to help break the chain of infection.

“We work very closely with our hospital infection prevention department in identifying any areas of concern and any means of improving our outcomes,” Alonzo Gonzalez, CHFM, CHESP, director of patient care properties, said in the article. The ES team takes a multidimensional, collaborative approach to improving outcomes.

Along with a warm smile and a friendly greeting, it’s not uncommon to see an environmental services (ES) staff member at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital helping a patient find the right department or directing a visiting family member to the cafeteria for coffee, according to the article.

 “They are truly goodwill ambassadors for the hospital,” says Sheila Woolley, R.N., MPH, NEA-BC, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

And the ES department has the numbers to back up its actions. The most recent Press Ganey Associates Inc. scores of 95 on courtesy and 94 on cleanliness have landed the department in the 98th or 99th percentile for both categories all four quarters of 2013. 

Read the article.