Resident-staff communication a big part of environmental services
Friday October 5, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Not only does Village Green’s environmental services department play the leading role ensuring residents live in a clean, safe and infection-free environment, the department’s staff members also have a special relationship with residents, says Jane Hughes.

Hughes, the Selby long-term care home’s environmental services manager (ESM), says the department’s employees are often the first people residents go to when they have a problem.

This is often due to the fact residents spend more time having casual conversations with personnel from the environmental services department than they do with staff members from other areas.

“I think the housekeeping and laundry staff really are the people a lot of the residents will talk to,” says Hughes. “(Staff members) will be in the rooms, doing the cleaning, and they’ll just strike up a conversation with them. A lot of the times they hear things from the residents that (residents) don’t bother telling the nurses or anybody else.”

But it’s not just problems or concerns residents will bring to the attention of staff members in the environmental services department, notes Hughes.

For example, one resident, who is “very time conscious,” tells a member of the housekeeping staff every morning which clothes he wants to wear the next day.

Once he tells the staff member, she gets the man’s clothes ready.

“He looks to her to do that,” says Hughes.

Another resident, who often gets cards in the mail, looks to a housekeeping staff member to put her cards up on the wall of her room, says Hughes. While these things might seem little, Hughes underscores that they are important to residents.

And while these duties are not officially part of the job at Village Green, Hughes encourages environmental services staff members to engage residents in conversation whenever they get the chance.

“I really stress to them, yes, you’re here to do work, but you can always take a few minutes and talk to the residents,” she says. “It’s very important, especially to residents who spend a lot of time in their room to spend a few minutes chatting with them.”