A Letter From Bill
Last week, many of you joined me online as we gathered in Australia and listened to some great leaders in our industry from around the world. I thought I would take the time to reflect on what I picked up from this experience.
Firstly, I was overwhelmed by the fact that these leaders took time out to help us. They are all notable leaders in their field, and they have all been extremely busy guiding their respective industries through COVID. In this respect, it was not just what they said that impressed me but by the fact that they made room for us in their day and the fact that they showed us leadership in putting healthcare workers lives, patient lives and resident lives first. Not one of our speakers had an agenda, was paid or benefited apart from the joy that comes from serving others. Many conference attendees were extremely grateful for their input and leadership.
The conference started off with Prof Didier Pittet, I can now clearly see how the Clean Hospitals International Group will develop along a similar path to the Clean Hands campaign he led for many years. I am looking forward to the Clean Hospitals day on 10th, October and involving as many Hospitals and Aged Care facilities as possible. The Clean Hands campaign is about not getting infected and not infecting anyone else, a key message to our cleaning staff involved in healthcare cleaning.
Dr Ruth Caricco followed Didier and got us thinking about our new patient, the environment of care. When we understand that the environment of care, our Hospital or Aged Care building is actually a patient and that our EOC patient does have germs that could harm our staff and our residents it changes the way we approach our cleaning. If we truly saw our building as an infected patient, we would work differently, we would protect ourselves differently, and we would prioritise our cleaning and disinfection differently.
Fiona Nemetz bought her usual focus on leadership and culture in EVS and I can see why she attracts, trains and retains her staff so well in a system where the pay is not high. She is an excellent and passionate communicator who genuinely cares for and believes in the people in her team, and her leadership is what attracts and brings out the best in her workforce. I hope to be more like this in the future.
Prof. Karen Vickery bought us the data and latest research on how we can validate cleaning and disinfection results and reminded us of the basic truths when it comes to cleaning, disinfection and the need for the right amount of elbow grease (labour), the right amount of time, training and supervision.
Alexandra bought us a very interesting session on Fake News and my take on this is to be very careful at where you get your information from. While Google, Twitter and Facebook might be the easiest way to find information, that certainly does not mean it is the right information and you can believe whatever you read.
This conference was about “Saving Lives Through Science Based Cleaning” and I am very thankful that so many attendees got to hear from many different speakers all at the top of their field, all bringing new ideas that challenge the way we do things.
I was also overjoyed to see the continuous chats throughout the sessions and see the courtesy and encouragement across attendees and groups. When leaders are gathered in one room, or in our case many rooms it definitely brings out the best in people and makes the experience better for everyone.
I am also very thankful to our staff who turned this conference from a live conference into an online event in just six weeks. This has allowed us to leave the conference experience online and for our attendees to share it will others at no cost.
Thank you to everyone that was involved. I love being part of this industry and I love being able to serve you now and into the future.
Bill Bassett
MD The Interclean Group
