The AHE Exchange Education and Solution Summit (Exchange26) brought together environmental services professionals, healthcare leaders, and infection prevention experts in New Orleans, Louisiana, from August 16–19. Hosted by the Association for the Health Care Environment (AHE), the event focused on the many ways EVS teams contribute to patient safety through cleaning, disinfection, technology, and facility planning.
For Seal Shield, Exchange26 provided an opportunity to connect with the people responsible for keeping healthcare environments clean, safe, and ready for the next patient.
A Strong VA Presence
One of the things that stood out throughout the conference was the number of Veterans Health Administration (VA) professionals in attendance. The VA represents roughly one-third of the U.S. healthcare system, with more than 1,380 healthcare sites, including 170 medical centers, making its focus on environmental hygiene especially significant.
Seal Shield already has a presence across VA facilities, with our infection prevention solutions supporting healthcare professionals throughout the system. Exchange26 gave us an opportunity to connect with more VA professionals and hear firsthand about the challenges they face when managing cleaning and disinfection across large, complex healthcare environments.
UV Disinfection Was a Major Conversation
If there was one technology that seemed to be everywhere at Exchange26, it was UV Disinfection. Everything from UV Disinfection robots to wall mounted systems and everything in between.
Attendees showed strong interest in how UV technology can be incorporated into healthcare disinfection strategies, making the CleanSlate® UV Sanitization Stations a natural conversation starter at the Seal Shield booth.
CleanSlate generated significant interest, particularly around using UV-C technology to sanitize shared devices and high touch equipment. That interest extended beyond the exhibit floor, with the session “UV Devices in Healthcare Environment: Considerations EVS Professionals Should Know” exploring what EVS professionals should consider when evaluating UV technology.
The conversations at Exchange26 reinforced that UV is becoming an increasingly important part of the healthcare disinfection conversation.
The Role of Keyboards in Infection Prevention
For EVS professionals, keyboards are among the many high-touch surfaces staff interact with throughout the day. In shared workstations and clinical environments, keeping that technology clean can be challenging when traditional keyboards aren’t designed to withstand routine healthcare disinfection.
That was part of the conversation around the Seal Silk Pro® Keyboard, which generated the most interest among the Seal Shield products on display. Its fully sealed design allows EVS teams to disinfect the keyboard alongside other high-touch surfaces using leading healthcare disinfectants.
For healthcare environments where shared technology is part of the daily workflow, cleanable keyboards can make routine disinfection a little easier.
Education Brings the Bigger Picture into Focus
Education was a major part of Exchange26, with sessions covering disinfection challenges, emerging technologies, and the changing role of EVS.
Sessions included:
- UV Devices in the Healthcare Environment: Key Considerations All EVS Professionals Should Know
- Improving Performance: Disinfection with Smart Aerosolized Hydrogen Peroxide Dry-Fogging
- Hidden Savings in EVS: How People, Processes & Products Unlock Capacity Without Cutting Quality
- The Role of EVS in Construction Projects
The people responsible for environmental services are increasingly involved in decisions about technology, disinfection strategies, facility design, and the systems that help healthcare organizations maintain safer environments.
Thank You, AHE Exchange26
We would like to thank everyone who stopped by the Seal Shield booth at AHE Exchange26 to learn more about our infection prevention solutions and share their experiences with us.
We especially appreciate the EVS professionals who took the time to discuss the challenges they face and the ways healthcare technology is changing the way they approach cleaning and disinfection.
We look forward to continuing those conversations and helping healthcare organizations find practical, purpose-built solutions for the devices and surfaces that are part of their everyday environments.
