Rock D. Jensen, CSCT, is a past advisory board chairman for AHE, and administrative director of facilities, construction & design for Onvida Health in Yuma, Arizona.  

Rock D. Jensen

Exchange25: Association for the Health Care Environment in Columbus, Ohio

The Environmental Services Industry kicks off the largest health care conference of the year. It is the Association for Health Care Environment (AHE) Exchange Summit 2025. This year, the conference is being held in Columbus, Ohio, with an anticipated attendance of over 600 dedicated environmental services (EVS) professionals. The site location is the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Summit takes place from June 8 to 11, 2025.

The AHE (a professional membership group of the American Hospital Association) Mission Statement is recognized and formulated “To advance members' ability to establish and maintain care environments that are free of environmental surface contamination and that support safety, service, and efficient and effective operations.” One of the AHE Strategic Imperatives is to develop resources that focus on their body of knowledge as their primary asset and make it available to every health care environmental services professional regardless of their place of practice.

With the AHE’s focus on education and training programs throughout the year, their annual Education & Solution Summit, officially known this year as Exchange Summit 2025, is geared towards growing professional networks, sharing information, creating connections, and learning more about the health care environmental services. Professionals can learn new and emerging strategies, find solutions to long-standing challenges, and become informed about best practices.

This year's conference features various sessions with a direct and correlated focus on Infection Prevention. Speakers include infection preventionists, industry-related experts from Clorox and Diversey, a principal microbiologist from Contec, DKMicrobios LLC, and health care executives and leaders responsible for infection prevention in their various health care facilities.

Of course, every session at the conference, in some way, drives the AHE mission and the infection prevention objectives of providing patients and staff with a safe, healthy environment in which to heal and work. There are 37 total learning sessions, and 46 speakers are involved in the Summit. Pre-Summit Certification and testing sessions are running June 6 through 8, and the General Summit conference kicks off on Monday, June 9, and runs through midday Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Over 60 exhibitors are attending the Exchange 25 Solution Center, sharing numerous products and services that can help infection prevention and EVS organizations. These companies will be onsite to answer questions and offer

interactive demonstrations. Vendors’ offerings include cleaning and disinfection products, software solutions, UV technologies, robotics, textiles and linens, and much more.

One General Session being promoted on the schedule carries an IP perspective and is presented in a cross-collaboration panel format. It consists of Ruth Carrico, senior partner and consultant with Carrico & Ramirez, PLLC, who will provide IP insights. The panel consists of, in addition to Ruth, leaders in EVS, Supply Chain, and Facilities. They will share and discuss the value in collaborating across teams to effect successful infection prevention outcomes.

 “An Emerging Pathogen Update” led by Doe Kley, Infection Preventionist Fellow with the Clorox company.

 “Protecting with Purpose,” a session led by Doe Kley and other health care EVS leadership from around the country

 “Environmental Hygiene Validation: Are All Your Eggs in One Basket?” led by Vydia Nankoosingh, infection prevention senior clinical advisor for Diversey.

 “Disinfecting Sinks to Avoid a Pain in the Drain” led by Mark Wiencek, principal microbiologist for Contec, Inc.

 “DICE Infection Prevention” (Detect, Identify, Clean, Examine) using detection devices, led by David Koenig, PhD, chief technology officer for DKMicrobios, LLC.

 “Floorcare as your Litmus Test to a Safe and Hygienic Facility,” led by Kim Keenum, business development manager for Karcher North America

 “Partners in Prevention: Infection Prevention is Everybody’s Business,” led by Shannon Simmons, the program manager of ambulatory infection prevention and control for CHRISTUS Health. This is a General Session event.

Each year, EVS professionals attending the conference respond that networking is one of the key aspects they look forward to. Networking provides them a chance to communicate and bounce off thoughts and ideas they experience in their own hospitals and facilities. The networking consists of not only EVS peers, but IP professionals and experts who share common goals. The 2025 Summit will provide many opportunities for networking to occur. Multiple events are scheduled that will provide an emphasis on attendees joining together in an open forum.

From the AHE Chair, Marci Butts, MBA, BHA, and down through the Advisory Board and various committees, the AHE leadership is ultimately comprised of working EVS professionals in health care and hospital institutions. The leadership shares the same working concerns as most of their fellow AHE members regarding reducing microorganisms, managing staff, identifying materials that drive effectiveness and efficiency and managing productivity. The success of the AHE summit lies in its being driven by members and leaders who face the same daily challenges and struggles. It is this strong bond of common understanding that drives the success of the Summit. The integration with infection prevention at the conference and in real-life experiences with EVS leaders exemplifies the critical path and partnership required to achieve success in providing a safe and healing environment for those who frequent our hospitals and health care locations.

Articles

The Association for the Health Care Environment (AHE) is set to host its largest event of the year—Exchange Summit 2025—from June 8 to 11 in Columbus, Ohio. With over 600 environmental services (EVS) professionals expected to attend, this year’s conference focuses heavily on infection prevention, interdepartmental collaboration, and education that empowers frontline health care support leaders to improve patient safety and operational efficiency.

AHE Exchange Summit 2025 Brings EVS and Infection Prevention Experts Together in Columbus, Ohio

AHE: Association for the Health Care Environment

The 2023 AHE Exchange Conference in Dallas, Texas, had several import­ant areas of focus for EVS leadership, but certainly a recurring theme involved infection prevention and the essential nature of keeping emerging pathogens and microorganisms from gaining a foothold in our health care institutions and facilities. For example, significant time was allotted to Lynne M. Sehulster, PhD, M(ASCP), CIMP; and Matthew J. Arduino, DrPH, MS, FSHEA, M(ASCP), who discussed infection prevention guidelines and principles that form the foundation of EVS. They also spent time reviewing the CDC’s 20th anniversary of those guide­lines and where we are today. Then they looked forward at emerging challenges in today’s environment.

Rodney Rohde, PhD, SV, SM, MB(ASCP), FACSc, professor and chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at Texas State University, reviewed in depth one of the biggest challenges in environmental infection prevention, that of the recon­tamination and regrowth of pathogens on surfaces. One of the aspects on which he focused was recent advances in disinfec­tion chemistries that include continuously active disinfectants that kill microbes, providing additional protection against retransmission of pathogens.

CDC representatives Koo-Whang Chung, MPH, a health scientist; and Janet Glowicz, PhD, MPH, RN, an infection pre­ventionist (IP) in the Division of Health­care Quality Promotion, discussed the importance of communication between EVS management and staff concerning infection prevention. Developing a solid, sustained relationship between EVS and IP is critical during routine and emergency situations. They provided key resources and recommendations to aid EVS man­agers in developing and maintaining procedures and protocols.

Several learning labs addressed evolv­ing technology as a way for EVS leaders to drive enhanced results in their health care settings. One example was the uti­lization of electrolyzed water, a nontoxic, sustainable solution and option for health care environments offering a safer, more powerful alternative to disinfecting. Dan­iel Lawson, cofounder and president of business affairs for Viking Pure Solutions in Port Orange, Florida, demonstrated how the US Environmental Protection Agency– registered electrolyzed water technology is made, its efficacy of solutions, and its safety in the environment.

AHE, at the Exchange Conference and in ongoing strategic planning, has focused on how to ensure EVS does not lose relevancy in the industry. During the COVID-19 years, EVS was often looked to as a critical partner in ensuring a safe, healing environment for patients and staff. With the waning of COVID-19, AHE is focused on helping EVS leaders main­tain the momentum and expertise they acquired during the pandemic to help drive best practices for reducing biobur­den in the health care setting.

EVS leaders and IPs are critical partners in driving these best practices. Through their partnership, both teams can identify the science needed to reach positive out­comes and, in a real sense, identify real-life experiences of what works in the health care setting for the teams that implement the measures to eradicate the pathogens in the environment.

Finally, there was a focus at the AHE Exchange Conference on new EVS lead­ership. More than half of the attendees at the conference were there for the first time. In 2022, it was just less than half of the attendees. A strategic imperative AHE has been focused on is where the next EVS leaders are coming from. There are many leaders in AHE who have been the backbone of the industry for decades. As they begin to age, we have been thrilled to see these new leaders emerging. In fact, we have established a committee in AHE specifically for new EVS leaders to engage and to identify pathways they see as critical. AHE has laid significant groundwork for them over the years to use the provided tools and certifications and to drive the industry to higher levels. Although we pause occasionally to look at where we have been, the windshield is a much larger view of where we are going. We believe AHE is in good hands with the emerging leaders who are beginning to step up in continuing to provide the EVS industry with continued insight, educa­tion, and evidence-based results that will make our hospitals safe for patients and staff for decades to come.

AHE Exchange Conference & Solution Center. AHE. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://www.ahe.org/ ahe-exchange-conference

Health care environmental professionals met in Dallas, Texas, from July 31 to August 2, 2023, at the AHE Exchange Conference & Solution Center. Infection Control Today® asked Rock Jensen, AHE advisory board chair and administrative director of support services for Yuma Regional Medical Center in Arizona, about AHE’s areas of emphasis for leadership in environmental services (EVS). 


Rock D. Jensen

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