2025 Environmental Services Departments of the Year

Winner profiles

500-plus beds winner: VA Palo Alto Environment Management Service

250-499 beds winner: Onvida Health Yuma Medical Center

1-249 beds winner: Aurora Medical Center Sheboygan County

Among all the important departments in a health care facility, environmental services (EVS) plays a crucial role that’s often underappreciated. From inspecting and sanitizing patient rooms and medical equipment to managing hazardous waste, maintaining bed availability and implementing sustainability initiatives, these professionals ensure hospitals run safely and efficiently — even when resources are limited.

The Association for the Health Care Environment (AHE) annually honors exceptional EVS programs with its EVS Department of the Year Awards. This recognition celebrates teams that excel in cleaning, disinfection, infection prevention, environmental stewardship, staff training and innovative use of technology. “We’re thrilled to continue the EVS Department of the Year Awards,” says AHE Executive Director Lizzie Ortolano. “Environmental services professionals play a vital role in patient care, and these awards recognize those demonstrating the highest standards of quality, leadership and commitment to excellence.” Awardees stand out by demonstrating measurable results, thoughtful strategies and creative solutions that elevate operational performance and patient experiences.

“We on the review committee that judged these awards looked closely at hospitals that demonstrated innovation and imagination,” says Ed Barr, CHESP, FAHE, general manager/director of environmental services for Sodexo in Meadowbrook, Pa. “A lot of claims were made by the applicants. But the hospitals that scored the highest demonstrated that they could walk the walk as well as talk the talk. These winning organizations showed that you can’t be afraid to try something different, even if it’s unconventional.”

This year, three outstanding EVS teams exemplified how goal setting, collaboration and forward-thinking approaches can overcome challenges and set new standards for excellence.

About this survey

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The 2025 winner for 500-plus beds is the Environmental Management Service (EMS) department at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ VA Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System. Teammates leveraged data-driven strategies, innovative technology and rigorous training programs to achieve exceptional results in sanitation, bed turnover, ultraviolet-C disinfection, infection prevention and patient satisfaction across the system’s three campuses. Their approach demonstrated measurable improvements, consistently high performance and a strong commitment to creating a safe, efficient and patient-focused environment.

Onvida Health Yuma (Ariz.) Medical Center is this year’s recipient for 250-499 beds. Its EVS department achieved significant operational and patient care improvements through data-informed process changes, cross-departmental collaboration and rigorous quality programs. Accomplishments included faster emergency department room turns, consistently high cleanliness and infection prevention scores, award-winning hazardous waste management, streamlined pest response and strong staff retention.

Finally, Aurora Medical Center Sheboygan County in Sheboygan, Wis., earned the prize in the 1-249 bed category. There, EVS staff delivered exceptional cleanliness, infection prevention and operational efficiency through standardized procedures, advanced technology and cross-department collaboration. Their achievements — including top safety and patient satisfaction scores, no C. diff infections for most of 2024, strong sustainability performance and high staff retention — demonstrate a consistent commitment to excellence, teamwork and patient-focused care.

Review committee judge Kimberly Miller, BS, CMIP, T-CHEST, T-CNACC, T-CSCT, vice president of support services for Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash., says all the winners earned honors this year thanks to their level of detail, supporting documents and multiple accomplishments.

“Winning these awards is not just about saying your team is great and did great things — it’s about supporting those claims with details, documentation, examples and descriptions of processes in-depth,” Miller says. “In some cases, their processes were implemented throughout multiple systems, not just within a single department, which is impressive.”

Certificates of Merit

• 500-plus beds // Geisinger Medical Center,Danville, Pa.
• 250-499 beds // Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth/Professional Contract Services Inc., Portsmouth, Va.
• Aurora West Allis Medical Center, Milwaukee
• 1-249 beds // Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore

Review task force 

• Ed Barr, CHESP, FAHE, general manager/director for Sodexo Health in Meadowbrook, Pa.
• Randall Manno, MBA, MHA, CHESP, CMIP, T-CHEST, T-CSCT, senior director for environmental services at Children’s Medical Center — Dallas.
• Gary S. McCarthy Jr., CMIP, CMPS, program manager for health care environment and facilities programs at the Veterans Health Administration.
• Kimberly Miller, BS, CMIP, T-CHEST, T-CNACC, T-CSCT, vice president of support services for Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash.

Erik J. Martin is a freelance writer based in Oak Lawn, Ill.