“This is the neatest place to work,” says Linda Rogers, manager of Environmental Services at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI).

The word neat has a double meaning, and both apply here. Thanks to HCI’s Environmental Services team, the hospital is clean and orderly—and thanks to the overall teamwork among all levels of hospital staff, working at HCI is also a great experience. “Here, everybody treats people with respect and dignity. We all live by that in this hospital—doctors, nurses, administrators, and housekeepers,” Rogers says.

Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, the Environmental Services team of 33 people leaves its mark throughout the research hospital and clinics. “We’ve calculated that each member of our team cleans 11,000 square feet per day, including horizontal and vertical surfaces,” says Rogers. Maintaining the wood paneling, etched glass, and marble floors in the hospital requires special cleaning techniques. Thanks to the Environmental Services crew, they look as good now as when they were installed.

Patients think HCI is neat, too. Patient satisfaction ratings for the Environmental Services staff have been at or above 95 percent consistently. “As a team, we brainstorm new ways to keep nudging that up to 100 percent,” says Norma Jones, a supervisor in Environmental Services. Crew members suggested adding little “hotel” touches such as folding points into the tissues and paper towels as part of their cleaning routine. They’ve found that patients notice and appreciate the extra effort.

But even more than dusting and mopping, the Environmental Services staff members make sure to give patients and their families personal attention. They introduce themselves upon entering the room. They let patients know what they are doing and how long it will take. They even make sure patients know how to operate the bed controls, the nurse call button, and the TV. The housekeepers, like everyone else at HCI, do all they can to help make a hospital stay or a clinic visit more comfortable and more comforting, and that is really neat.