Healthcare Environmental Services | Healthcare Housekeeping Week

Healthcare Environmental Services Week Ideas

Healthcare Environmental

A quality staff is essential to quality care, and proper recognition will enable such a staff to continue to thrive. National Healthcare Environmental Services Week and National Healthcare Housekeeping Week provide the perfect opportunity for you to acknowledge your employees’ efforts. Here at Positive Promotions, we want to assist you in making the most of your recognition and appreciation programs. This guide gives suggestions for celebrating your staff and incorporating our market-tested products into your activities. Add your own personal touch for a remarkable week!


	Personalized Poetry
	Test your own creativity. Attempt to write a rhyming poem about each of your housekeepers. In the rhyme, mention good characteristics of the person. Every day of National Healthcare Housekeeping Week, read one or more poems out loud (depending on size of staff). Present the subject of the poem with a Housekeeper’s Cup Of Appreciation or a “Making A Difference Every Day” Retractable I.D. Badge Holder.


	Silly Softball
	During National Healthcare Environmental Services Week, hold a lighthearted softball game. Divide your employees into teams by some seemingly random criteria, such as hair color or type of vehicle driven. This is to get more evenly mixed teams and cause interaction between people who don’t usually spend time together. Give players from one team “Environmental Services: Capable, Caring, Committed” T-Shirts and players from the other team “Environmental Services: Teamwork That Shines” T-Shirts to wear for the game. Then make up goofy rules; for example, members of the light-haired team have to run the bases while balancing books on their heads, and members of the dark-haired team have to carry eggs on spoons. After the softball game, thank everyone for being a good sport.


	Cool Contest
	Let your maintenance and laundry staff members design their own cool treat this year. Hold a competition to find new ice cream creations (combinations of ice cream flavors, mix-ins and toppings). Gather the names of the creations and what ingredients are involved. Reward every contestant in the competition with an “Our Staff Is Cool” E-Z Freeze Food Storage Container. Ask all staff members to vote for their favorite dish, regardless of whether they turned in an idea. Take the top three and make them a reality; bring in the ingredients for everyone to enjoy. Honor each winning entry designer with a Chocolate Snack Attack Gift Tote.


	Blast From The Past
	Send your housekeeping department back in time. Ask to borrow old magazines, kitchenware, lunch boxes, toys, etc., from employees in other areas of the facility. Display the memorabilia around the break room. Have your employees bring in old pictures of themselves or old photo IDs. Hold a dress-up day in which participants wear clothes from their high school eras. Then let everyone know that mental outlook is more important than an age defined by a number. Distribute “Attitude Is Everything!” Breakaway Lanyards or “Attitude Is Everything!”.


	Surrounded By Support
	Expand your celebration beyond the grounds of your facility. Find out which nearby businesses are frequently visited by your environmental services staff. Get permission from the owners or managers to display helium-filled “Environmental Services: Capable, Caring, Committed” Balloons. Provide “Environmental Services: Capable, Caring, Committed” Buttons for the employees of the businesses to wear. See if any businesses will offer items free or at a discount to your environmental services staff during the appreciation week.


	“Beary” Thoughtful Event
	Teddy bears and picnics go hand in hand due to the famous children’s song “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.” Hold a teddy-bear-themed picnic to play on this connection. Start by putting together a bulletin board with the headline “Work Would Be Unbearable Without Our Housekeepers.” Around the edges of the board, place the names of your housekeepers with pictures of teddy bears sprinkled throughout. In the middle of this display, hang up a sheet containing the details of your picnic. Arrange to have sandwiches and salads at it. And to carry out your theme, also serve gummi bears and Teddy Grahams (graham snacks). Set teddy bears around the picnic area. Give each housekeeper an “Our Staff Is ‘Beary’ Special” Plush Bear.


	Essential Ingredients
	Teamwork is crucial for the success of your facility. Your environmental services staff members probably have some thoughts on what a team needs. Request that they submit “Recipes For An Outstanding Team.” For example, a recipe might include a cup of reliability, a tablespoon of excellence and a pinch of humor. Another recipe might mention three cups of energy, two teaspoons of honesty and a dash of thoughtfulness. Thank each of your employees for his or her contributions to the team with a “Great Staff, Great Team” Ceramic Mug With Spoon or a “Great Staff, Great Team” Baseball Cap and Jersey.


	Caught Being Committed
	Send “best fishes” to your laundry and maintenance staff. Start with enough Deluxe Insulated Lunch Bags to have one for each person. Put goldfish crackers in the lunch bags. Include a note: “Please accept this gift because your hard work makes you a great catch.”


	Memory Challenge
	Games involving memory keep the mind active. Ask your housekeepers to bring in photos from home of pets, vacations, weddings, etc. At the beginning of National Healthcare Housekeeping Week, create a bulletin board display using the photos. Call everyone’s attention to the display, then leave it up all week. At the end of the week, gather your housekeepers and quiz them on the photos, for example, “Who is pictured in a pink bridesmaid dress?” Give a Housekeeper’s Breakaway Bic® Pen-On-A-Rope to all who take the quiz. Award a Tri-Fold Mirror/Clock/Frame to the person with the most correct answers.


	Sombreros With Style
	Spice up your 2007 recognition event. Supply each environmental services worker with a sombrero. If your staff is large, arrange employees into teams and provide a sombrero to each team. Give them the fun assignment of decorating the sombreros with items found in your building. Along with words of gratitude, distribute Lapel Pins , such as “Environmental Services: Our Team Does It All” and “Environmental Services: Taking Pride In A Job Well Done.” The lapel pins could be useful in attaching objects to the sombreros. Hold a mini fashion show featuring the decorated hats. To satisfy the munchies, bring in a Mexican snack.