Day in the Life: NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler Environmental Services (EVS) Team

In our hospitals, nursing homes and post-acute care facilities, cleanliness is about far more than appearance. Every disinfected surface, properly sanitized room and diligently maintained common area helps meet the rigorous safety, infection prevention, and environmental standards that protect residents and satisfy New York State regulations. At the heart of that effort are our EVS teams.

In our latest Day in the Life photo essay, we shine a light on NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler’s EVS team. Their work is often invisible precisely because they do it so well. Yet the comfort, dignity and safety of every resident depend on tasks that many people would never choose to do.

Morning Huddle

During the morning huddle, senior EVS staff member Stephen Erzah Jr. (center) and the team go over task assignments, discuss ongoing projects, and share vital details about things like outbreaks—like flu or COVID—which will require extra diligence to keep EVS staff safe. Erzah Jr. has been with our health care system for over 27 years. 

Coler’s EVS team includes multiple staff members who have been with our health system for more than twenty years and some as new as a few months.

“I enjoy coming to work here at Coler. I like coming in to do my part in making a difference in our residents’ lives. We do have a good time interacting with them; it isn’t only about cleaning. Some of our residents can be challenging, but at the end of the day it’s about making sure they have a clean safe environments.” -Emmanuel Gerlin

Most people see a clean hallway. Few see the dedication, resilience and quiet pride of EVS staff like Emmanuel Gerlin, who make the floors shine.

Emmanuel has been with our health system for 23 years started at the old Goldwater Memorial Hospital in 2002 before it merged into what is now NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler.

“Our EVS staff clean everything you can put your eyes on. They clean and disinfect, tables, floors, ceilings and doors. We’re responsible for moving patients in and out of quarantined areas when there’s an outbreak—like COVID or the flu or something else. There are also special ongoing projects that we’re responsible for—like making sure our stairwells are clean and safe and other projects such as ‘terminal cleaning’ which is essentially a very thorough and deep cleaning of high and low touch areas throughout the facility.” -Kwame Thomas, Assistant Director, Environmental Services.

Partnership and Commitment

Kwame and Petdra John share a light moment in what is an oftentimes challenging and unseen role at our facilities.

Project Shine

The work of our EVS staff is powerful for our residents. They create comfort, peace of mind and a sense of belonging for those who live at Coler.

“There’s anywhere from 1 to 4 residents in a room and in order to complete these kinds of deep cleaning, we have to remove all of their belongings, the bed, tables; everything from these rooms and it isn’t always an easy task to get them to understand that they have to be out of the room when we do these cleanings.  Some of these units can be challenging to maintain—because on many of them, residents have independence and autonomy and this is their space, so EVS has to account for how they choose to live in their space and must tactfully and respectfully engage with them to manage their belongings so we can clean their rooms. In order to do this efficiently, sometimes we partner with a particular nurse, provider or EVS staff who has a special relationship with a resident to get them to comply with a request to vacate their room so we can clean it.” -Kwame Thomas

A Deep Cleanse

“To do this job, you have to be able to understand and appreciate how life can change in an instant and you become a resident of a place like Coler. Our best EVS staff are the ones who can put themselves in our residents’ shoes and understand their experience—and are usually the ones who always go above and beyond for our residents with compassion and care.” -Kwame Thomas.

Like Family

The impact of EVS reaches far beyond cleanliness. It lives in the friendships and trust formed with the residents they serve. Emmanuel Gerlin (L)  and resident Francine Benjamin have known each other for more than 20 years; before Goldwater Memorial Hospital merged to become NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler.

Quality of Life

The Little Details

Anthony Martin Leonardo manages one of the ongoing projects of dismantling, cleaning, disinfecting and reinstalling the 40+ fans positioned at nurses’ stations throughout the facility.

Decades of Dedication

Behind every spotless space is a team of professionals performing demanding and sometimes unpleasant work that few people see and even fewer would volunteer to do. In a setting where health, safety, and dignity matter every day, these workers are among our health system’s quietest and most essential caregivers. We thank our EVS staff for the essential work they do.