Who is shielding the surge of infectious diseases at Audie L. Murphy?
You want to see heroic and courageous, peer into the eyes of a housekeeper aide, who has been collecting hazardous waste from patient rooms and wiping down everything everyone touches throughout day and night.
From high dusting to low dusting, housekeeper aids are astounding people equipped with gloves, cleaning carts, tools, and disinfectants, prepared to subdue infectious diseases, to create a positive atmosphere for patient care across the hospital, in contrast to fictional superheroes who fight crime.
Take a ride with me on the main elevator, as it drops down to the ground floor. Make a right, walk down the hallway then make a left. Stroll pass four doors towards the end of the hall and on your left is where the heroes of Environmental Management Services (EMS) reside. Meet a few of our champions from third shift EMS. They report to work between the hours of 23:00 – 07:30, seven days a week. Tasks are assigned by the supervisor during their huddle. As they head to their respective floors with a bag of clean mops and clean rags for the shift, excitement permeates the air and dance moves create a vibe to get the mind prepared to do battle with infectious diseases throughout the entire hospital. The standard for environmental cleanliness has been raised by Regina Paige-Prince, who is constantly prepared to put on her PPE (protective personnel equipment) for contact rooms, which includes a yellow gown, sterile gloves, and an N95 mask.
Paige-Prince is a remarkable EMS team lead, assistant to the supervisor, who’s been with EMS for eight years in Washington, DC, then transferred to South Texas Veterans Health Care System for a year now. She does the heavy lifting for the team by covering two floors, 5th floor which consist of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and Progressive Care Unit (PCU) the busiest floor and 7th floor. Cleaning contact rooms takes extraordinary attention to detail. A contact room differs from the regular room, because the use of all-purpose Virex, bleach and a hospital-disinfecting robot called Xenex. The pulsed xenon UV light system produces UV across the entire germicidal spectrum, inside the rooms.
She pauses for a moment, putting thoughts into words, tilting her head to the right, closing her eyes and with grin on her face, recollect the days when her husband worked as a mechanic in the garage, and cars would come in for maintenance just like Veterans would for medical attention at the hospital.
“I consider all my Vets cars. No matter what age they are, date they’re from or the Vietnam era, I call them my 66’ Sports, my 69’ chargers, my 74’ Impalas or my 59’ Studebakers. Whatever the case may be, I'm going to make them laugh,” Paige-Prince said.
It's not unusual for EMS to interact with patients while cleaning the hospital. To establish rapport with both the Veteran and their family, EMS personnel need to possess interpersonal skills beyond compare. Several Veterans have come in for all kinds of situations, such as, kidney treatments and heart concerns, but it is always a good time when they meet Paige-Prince while they're passing through.
“If they're in here for a kidney treatment like dialysis, I call it a radiator flush. If you come here for your heart, you come to hear about your carburetor. I'm like, oh, the doctor is working on your carburetor. That's your heart it got 4 valves. So, they get a laugh out of that,” Paige-Prince said.
Our Veterans have endured a great deal in life due to a variety of circumstances; at times, these experiences are evident, but other times they remain hidden until they get to the VA. The impact EMS has on Veterans and employees is evidently shown through gratitude and awareness from patients, family, nurses, and doctors. Every floor has immaculate waiting rooms available for patient families to sit in while they visit their loved ones. But not every vehicle leaves the garage, so a "Walk of Honor" is held to give the Veteran one last ride. The walk of honor is a ceremony where people gather in the halls of the hospital to pay respect to the fallen. Given, Paige-Prince is a proud Veteran who takes pride in her work, her decision to stand there and offer a final salute to the Veteran, demonstrates her cognitive empathy for the family.
“I just want, the garage to ensure the cars that come in here to be serviced are serviced with the best quality care available to them,” Paige-Prince said.
Thank you, Paige-Prince for taking time out your busy schedule to meet with me.
Bracket with Wonder Woman and Captain America, who are each equipped with their own weaponry, respectively. Oh, and don't forget about Wonder Woman’s invisible jet—this supervisor doesn't have any of those in her arson. However, she is prepared to lead her amazing team in the fight against infections armed with ample knowledge and a pair of gloves. Being an astonishing supervisor, she ensures everyone on her team gives their all, even in situations where they are understaffed. No task is too difficult for the mega mind behind third shift, supervisor Kathy Castillo.
Her journey into EMS started as a contractor that lasted for three years. Afterwards, she fully integrated into the STVHCS system and continued for five years, for a total of approximately eight years. Despite not being a veteran, her time at the VA has given her lifelong lessons on how to lead by example, as well as, how to provide better care for our Veterans.
“I’m a working supervisor. If areas are not covered, part of being a supervisor, is you got to step up and take care of it yourself. Being a supervisor is not a privilege. There’s a lot more to being a supervisor than sitting behind a desk doing paperwork,” Castillo said.
EMS makes a substantial difference in the functionality of the VA. Under her orchestration, dignitaries or visitors will be impressed by the hygienic patient rooms on the various wings, community restrooms outside the varying wards and outstanding shine on majority of the floors, as you walk through the hospital. A neglected facility is not something anyone wants to enter. EMS has broken ground to install a new trash compactor to better assist with the fight against infections.
Doctors and nurses are sometimes too busy to chat with Veterans. Housekeepers who are removing trash from the floor, might be open to having a quick conversation. Castillo loves listening to the Veterans “chew the fat,” about their time in the military.
“Hearing the Vets’ stories and where they came from, being that listening ear for them, because some people didn't have visitors. Sometimes, my presence gave them time to talk to people, you know, socialize,” Castillo said.
Fighting infectious diseases is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so let’s celebrate these champions amongst us more often. While doctors and nurses work hard to give Veterans health care, compared to mechanics doing tune-ups and maintenance on vehicles, EMS works extremely hard to fight diseases around Veterans and employees. Truth be told, I’m a Veteran who once worked for EMS. I used to wonder who kept the hospital so clean. I now can say, I had the privilege of working alongside these unsung heroes who, in some cases, were not always acknowledged for the extraordinary work they do. You don't often see these men and women defending us from all foreign and fatal diseases, but why?
Castillo gave me a relaxed smile that revealed all her teeth, “We’re like ninjas fighting infections!” Thank you, Kathy Castillo for taking time out your busy schedule to meet with me.