UM Shore Regional Health Environmental Services Team Member Wins CAPE Award

Debra Powell, an Environmental Services (EVS) team member at the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton, recently won the Cintas Corporation's CAPE Award, which honors team members for their dedication in keeping patients, team members and visitors safe and stopping the spread of infection through Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs). UM Shore Medical Center at Easton is a University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) hospital; UM SRH is a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System.

Powell was one of 10 national winners of the award, which is sponsored annually by the Cintas Corporation to celebrate EVS team members in acute and long-term care facilities who are at the frontline of patient care, providing clean and safe facilities for health care workers, patients, residents and visitors across the country.

CAPE stands for Cleaning to Advance the Patient Experience. Nominations for this award honor heroic EVS technicians "who might not wear a cape, but who play critical roles in cleaning and sanitizing health care facilities to eliminate viruses, germs and hospital-acquired infections."

"Out of 700 nominations, Debra was selected as one of the winners at different hospitals in the United States for showing exemplary hard work to mitigate HAIs and keep our patients and team members safe from infection," said Aaron Reddick, Unit Director of EVS, UM Shore Regional Health. "I have watched Debra go above and beyond in her work, training new team members, and teaching others the ropes of how the job is done and the reason we are so important and vital in health care. She recently celebrated 40 years of service to UM Shore Regional Health, and we can't thank her enough for her dedication to her role as a housekeeper and to the well-being of our patients and team members."

"EVS staff play an increasingly vital role in infection control, but their hard work often goes unnoticed," said Chad Poeppelmeier, Cintas' Vice President of Healthcare. "We're proud to honor these unsung heroes who display empathy and courage and spend countless hours cleaning and maintaining public and private spaces to prevent infection."