Elex Sanchez draws on his more than 25 years in the hospitality industry to bring the same level of customer service, attention to detail and visitor experience standards to our pediatric patients and their families.
Sanchez and his team start every shift with a huddle to discuss the day’s tasks and calisthenics to warm up for the physical demands of the job. Members of the team include floor care techs, unit support assistance, recycling techs, and lead techs who manage small, tactical groups like operating room (OR) technicians focused on daily terminal cleans in the OR. A terminal clean is a very deep, detailed cleaning process with special disinfectants requiring a certain amount of “kill time” to work properly.
Right now, as the spread of a global pandemic is knocking on our doors, the Environmental Services team is working hard to keep it at bay. This Texas Children’s team is well stocked and has proactively worked with vendors to secure a surplus of cleaning supplies, as an additional layer of readiness should it become difficulty to procure such items in the future.
Texas Children’s Environmental Services also employs five ultra violet light disinfection systems for ORs, isolation units or any other potentially contaminated areas in the hospital. First, the techs clean the room and then bring in the robot system to shine ultraviolet light from multiple, flexible arms. The whole process takes about 50 minutes. Texas Children’s has had five systems in place for about six months, and is in the process of procuring seven more units.
The team has also increased cleaning schedules and now completes 12 cleanings per day over three shifts in public spaces and restrooms, and also completes four to six cleaning rounds in lobbies and waiting rooms.
“We call ourselves ‘warriors for infection control.’ Essentially, we are infection control and our teams are on the front lines every day ensuring our patients and staff have a safe, sanitized and sparkling clean environment,” said Sanchez.
