Mercy Health highlights those keeping facility clean

A local hospital says the people behind the scenes working hard to ensure its medical facilities are safe and environmentally sound are the unsung heroes of the global coronavirus pandemic.

With more outpatient health care services opening up May 1 as part of Responsible RestartOhio, Mercy Health-Lorain Hospital has taken a number of steps to prepare and reensure the safety of their facilities, officials said.

Carrie Jankowski, vice president of ancillary and support services for Mercy Health-Lorain Hospital, said the system’s environmental services staff initially received some retraining on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on cleaning and have increased the timeliness of sanitary methods.

Jankowski is managing the implementation of environmental sanitation protocols.

“For patient rooms or rooms where COVID-19 patients are, the rooms are disinfected, not only by housekeeping, but it’s a collaborative effort between the EVS (environmental services) staff and the clinical staff,” she said.

“That way, we minimize our traffic and staff exposure.”

Each room is thoroughly disinfected when a patient leaves, Jankowski said.

Mercy Health initiated Project Bliss to target high traffic areas in the hospital including elevators, lobbies, entrances corridors and public restrooms to minimize risk, she said.

Each environmental services staff member assigned to different areas is making sure those items are sanitized a minimum of three times each shift, Jankowski said.

For higher traffic areas, rather than rotating staff, individual staff members are assigned to sanitize specific areas so they are cleaned more regularly, she said.

Under the guidelines put out by the CDC and the

FDA, Mercy Health has independence in determining the frequency of cleaning and Jankowski said the hospital has made this a priority in protecting visitors, patients and staff.

“It’s a top priority for us to ensure that our patients, visitors, physicians and associates all feel safe,” she said.

“And I don’t want to downplay the importance of our EVS staff in ensuring the safety our communities and those in our hospital.”

The hospital’s personal protective equipment supply is stable, but Jankowski said Mercy Health is always in need of N95 masks along with hair covers and shoe coverings.

“There’s just been a great deal of effort to making sure when they are coming in, they are just as protected as a patient that’s up in one of the units,” said Jonathon Fauvie, marketing and communications director for Mercy HealthLorain.

“And it’s probably going to be that way for some time.”