“UMF established the Hygiene Specialist Excellence Award as a way to recognize the invaluable contributions of the unsung, everyday heroes staffing ES departments across the country,” said UMF Corporation CEO George Clarke. “We want to increase awareness of all the unheralded professionals that are so critical in the battle against preventable hospital associated infections (pHAIs). Chief among these are hygiene specialists, who serve as the first line of defense in ensuring safe environments in hospitals and long-term care facilities.”

Though mostly preventable, HAIs such as Clostridium difficile (C. diff) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occur in all types of patient and extended care settings. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), on any given day, about one in 31 hospital patients has at least one HAI. Management at leading health systems understand and recognize the importance of ES as part of an enterprise-wide multimodal intervention plan to combat such infections.

ES managers are encouraged to nominate dedicated staff members to receive the award. The Hygiene Specialist Award includes a one-week vacation for two to South Beach, Florida. Nomination forms, available at https://bit.ly/2OOX32z, should be submitted on or before Dec. 31, 2018.