Contact: Susan Barber Lindquist, (715) 838-3012
The Western Wisconsin Chapter of the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM) recently received the organization’s Small Chapter of the Year award.
Local chapter members Nancy Benish of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Lori Ferrer of Sacred Heart Hospital and Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC), and Camaron Solsrud of Luther Midelfort accepted the award May 4 in San Diego at the Association’s annual meeting.
“To be recognized with an award in our first year of existence shows what passion our officers and members have for this important profession,” said Solsrud, lead sterilization technician at Luther Midelfort. “Our profession is one that is very much behind the scenes when it comes to patient care but is a vital part to patient protection. This chapter gives us another vehicle to educate and promote what we do.”
“Receiving this award is huge for us because it shows the significance in how we’ve grown as a chapter,” said Benish, Sterile Processing Supervisor at St. Joseph’s Hospital and secretary of IAHCSMM’s Western Wisconsin Chapter. “Being recognized by an international organization is extremely flattering.”
“Our number one goal is to always make patient safety our primary priority,” said Ferrer, President of IAHCSMM’s Western Wisconsin Chapter, Central Service Technician and Surgical Technology Instructor at CVTC and Certified Registered Central Sterilizing Technician at Sacred Heart Hospital. “To do this we must continue learning as processes and standards evolve. With each meeting, individuals are inspired and motivated to do our jobs correctly to meet the needs of positive patient outcomes. We are grateful to the STERIS Corporation for sponsoring this honorable plaque and cash award of $1,500 that will assist in continued education growth within our chapter.”
The job of the Central Service Technician is to maintain an uninterrupted supply of instrumentation and supplies used in patient care. The cleaning, processing and sterilization of complex instrumentation constitutes most of the day-to-day work of the central service technician. Major categories of those products include surgical instruments, power equipment, robotic instruments, fiber optic scopes and cameras and other specialty instrumentation.
IAHCSMM is regarded as the premier association for Central Sterile Supply Department professionals worldwide and is represented by nearly 13,000 members. The Western Wisconsin Chapter formed a year ago and currently has 53 members.
For more information, visit www.iahcsmm.org.
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