Within the “COVID-19 Emergency Response” project implemented by Caritas Baby Hospital (CBH) with the support of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and in cooperation with health care facilities, the Environmental Services Department (ESD) and the Infection Control Committee at CBH concluded a series of trainings on the principles of infection prevention and control within the environmental services departments.
The activity targeted the ESD staff (janitors) and aid nurses in the Holy Family Hospital, Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR), Shepherd’s Field Hospital in Bethlehem, Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron, and Saint Luke Hospital in Nablus.
These training tackled the activities and practices within the health care facilities in combating microorganisms and breaking the chain of infection in order to maintain staff and patients’ safety. The participants were also acquainted with the standard precautions, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, environmental cleaning, waste disposal, handling of bed sheets, reprocessing of medical instruments, and cough etiquette, with emphasis on the principles of cleaning, disinfection and sterilization in health care facilities. On a practical side, the participants were given the chance to apply the new gained information within the hospital settings.
Similarly, the Environmental Services Manager at Caritas Baby Hospital, Issa Siryani, visited the Gaza Strip, where the same project is being implemented. This visit included transferring this successful experience to the health care facilities of Ahli Arab Hospital, Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work (NECCCRW), and Caritas Jerusalem.
It is worth mentioning that this training is the first of its kind in Palestine that tackles with infection control through the capacity building of environmental services departments (cleaning) in a systematic way.
About this experience, the Infection Control Director at Caritas Baby Hospital, Dr. Musa Hindiyeh said: "We have taken the concept of infection control to a new level. We are proud of our ability to contribute to achieving national results in this field".
