Hidden Heroes: The Impact of Environmental Services
April 08, 2025
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Walk into any Legacy Health medical center, clinic or facility, and you’ll encounter passionate, dedicated and caring professionals. As passionate, dedicated and caring as anyone are members of the Environmental Health Services Team — the unsung, below-the-radar heroes of Legacy Health.
The Environmental Services Team helps keep every Legacy hospital, for example, safe, clean and running smoothly. Team members impact nearly every inch of a hospital by clearing and cleaning patient rooms, operating areas, hallways, office spaces and more. But their diligent work transcends mere first impressions to the public: Their work also helps limit the spread of disease. They can impact health and lives. And that effort too often goes unnoticed by the public.
For Carolle Larsen, the appreciation of patients, their families and providers, nurses and other staffers always uplifts her. It’s one reason why she’s worked at Legacy for 34 years and counting — all of it on the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center campus, the last 11 years at Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. While the work is physically taxing, the pay and benefits are good. Above all, the camaraderie, teamwork and loyalty of her colleagues provides the real “glue factor.”
“The thing is: If we aren’t friends and getting along and sticking together, then the work doesn't get done like it should,” she says. “So it's very important for us to work together to solve issues amongst ourselves, because it makes our job so much easier.”
Junior Weekes, one of Carolle’s co-workers, agrees.
“This work family is like a regular family, you know?” says Junior. “We try to keep a good vibe.”
Weekes has worked at Legacy Emanuel for 42 years and started out as a volunteer. The ensuing decades is history, as they say. By virtue of his experience, Weekes says he and other longtime employees are unofficial leaders on the team. “We’re the ones who have to set good examples,” he says. “Good work, good citizens.”
“This job can make or break a patient’s experience here. It can make someone feel better or worse. So we’re looking for people who want to play their own small role in a patient’s healing experience.”
Indeed, in environmental health services, teamwork is essential. Technically, every job is the same and every member has the same title — customer service associate. But different team members work in different areas with different priorities. Some team members work on the frontlines, such as emergency rooms, burn units, NICU and labor and delivery areas. Other members handle a facility’s waste stream, linens, offices and so on.
Even though there’s just one job title, different team members are responsible for different areas. So what do they have in common? Hard work, diligence, humility, pride, compassion and big hearts.
“We’re looking for people who want to make a difference for patients,” says Victor Hakim, support services manager for the Legacy Emanuel campus, which includes all related medical office buildings. “This job can make or break a patient’s experience here. It can make someone feel better or worse. So we’re looking for people who want to play their own small role in a patient’s healing experience.”
Junior and Carolle observe that running a hospital and healthcare system is more complex now compared to when they started working decades ago: Legacy is bigger; there are more supervisors; and there are also more complex diseases to be aware of, including COVID-19. Still, the joy of the job has remained.
“A lot of us, like Junior and I, we've been able to get through all of the changes that have come our way,” Carolle says. “We’ve pushed through.” Both Junior and Carolle say they want to work several more years before considering retirement.
Victor says that potential new recruits to the team get the chance to work with amazing people like Junior and Carolle. While some may not want to stay with the team as long as the two of them have, others can soak up the experience and positive attitude that the Environmental Health Services Team provides.
“It’s a great first step for the right person,” says Victor. “And great exposure to seeing how the entire system works. Maybe someone wants to be a physician associate or a tech assistant. It’s a way to see what else is out there. You’ll make a difference.”
Interested in joining our team? We’d love to hear from you!
