There are clean hospitals – and then there’s Westerly Hospital

There are roughly 6,100 hospitals across the United States, so when Becker’s Healthcare recently published a list of the nation’s 350 cleanest, it was a huge moment of pride for Westerly Hospital Environmental Services.

That’s right, Westerly Hospital made the list.

“Proud is an understatement,” said Joe Norris, EVS director for L+M and Westerly hospitals. “This is one of the biggest honors we can earn. And to our staff, kudos for all their hard work.”

Becker’s compiled the list from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services HCAHPS, (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) patient surveys. The national, standardized survey asks patients to rate their experiences during recent stays. The surveys for cleanliness were completed between October 2022 and September 2023.

Norris said the award speaks not only to how housekeepers clean each patient room, but how they interact with patients.

“Not only are we cleaning, we’re telling the patients step by step what we’re doing,” Norris said.

“Our team works extremely hard to do the best for our patients,” said Margaret Sherman, longtime housekeeper. “We have great customer service, and the patients appreciate it.”

Christine Debroisse, Westerly Hospital EVS manager, smiled as she talked about the honor. “It’s our culture here,” she said. “We have a great team that works well together, and they put the patients first. They advocate for our patients, and they advocate for our department. It’s just good communication, it’s transparency in the department, and we get good outcomes.”