IEHA.orgRon Parker was 77 when he went back to work at a hospital in Reno, NV. He’d worked a lot of jobs in the industry but this was one of his first experiences working in a facility. He was a Floor & Carpet Specialist in the 350-bed facility and was responsible for operating a large auto scrubber and burnisher and training other staff on floor care program until he retired almost five years later.
“I was really happy running the machine at the hospital,” he said. “A few years ago, they had 15 people doing the work of one or two people. Hospitals are so much cleaner now.”
For those who know Ron Parker, the fact that he went back to work was little surprise. This included his son, Rick Parker, who followed his father’s lead into the jansan industry after his first stint cleaning floors at age 10.
“Dad has always been passionate about training, so this job was right up his alley and helped keep him out of trouble,” Rick said with a laugh. “I say that, but it was also an extremely important job—too many people out there don’t know what they are doing when it comes to cleaning floors.”
Rick says we need more people like his dad, warning that our industry will face a big knowledge gap as Baby Boomers retire. To prevent this from happening, he sees a critical need for training for everyone involved in some facet of cleaning—from sales representatives to directors to frontline cleaning workers.
“How can you tell people to do it when you don’t know how to do it?” he asks.
Paving His Way in the Industry
When Ron started in the industry more than 50 years ago, he worked for a jansan distributor in Northern California where he made a name for himself in convalescent hospitals by helping cleaning professionals eliminate odor issues.
“A hospital would call with a urine odor problem, and I’d go into the facility and completely eradicate the odor with a special phenolic chemical we manufactured,” he said. “I’d wet everything down, take the bed and mattress down, scrub the floor and spray the chemical throughout the room. An hour or two later, I’d come back and the odor would be completely gone.”
This was when Ron had his first introduction to IEHA, known as the National Executive Housekeepers Association (NEHA) at the time. He took classes to earn his CEH at Delta College in Stockton, Calif., to gain a better understanding of the science behind cleaning. He knew that the better he understood the challenges facing his customers, the more he’d be able to provide true solutions to them that would help improve the way they cleaned—not just products.
Easterday, the distributorship where he worked at the time, was owned by the two brothers who started American Building Maintenance (ABM), a well-known global contract cleaning company. Ron worked his way up to Branch Manager before leaving to start Merit Supply, a jansan distribution company, with two other managers from Easterday.
“It was a completely different era in our industry,” Ron recalls. “There was so much more man power required—the first auto-scrubber we used was chain driven and backpack vacuums required someone the size of a linebacker to use.”
In addition to his work as a distributor, Ron also had a hardwood floor business for 25 years that specialized in gyms. He helped with the installation and refinishing of gym floors throughout parts of Northern California.
“Dad invented the floor finish applicators you see most people using these days,” Rick said proudly. “Back then, they used varnish instead of finish, but he attached a few tubes to a 5-gallon bucket that dripped out onto the floor. He didn’t patent it or anything—it just helped him do his job faster. It was just a few years later that another manufacturer came out with a similar version.”
“Yes, I’ve seen a lot of things and a lot of changes,” Ron said. “It’s great to see how far the industry has come.”
Like Father, Like Son.
The first time Ron asked Rick for help cleaning a hospital, Rick was mad because he was in the middle of an intense game of baseball. Only 10 at the time, he had no idea he’d end up spending the majority of his career in healthcare.
Several years later when Rick started cleaning carpets at a local school district, he quickly decided that he’d make more of an impact by starting his own business, like his father had. He began a contract cleaning company that he owned and operated for the next 15 years before selling it in 1989. His work took him to a variety of facilities, including his first healthcare account, Methodist Hospital in Sacramento.
Following in his dad’s footsteps, Rick’s next step was into janitorial sales and redoing floors on the side, largely working from the back of his Jeep Cherokee. When his dad was ready to check out from the world of distributor sales, Rick was ready to take his place. He purchased Merit with a partner.
“When I took over Merit, my first big sale was to UC Davis Medical Center and it grew from there,” Rick said.
It was also around that time that a promising new product from Sweden made its way to the U.S. He took a few samples to his contacts at UC Davis who immediately recognized its potential and placed a large order for microfiber, a technology that has completely transformed the way people clean not only in healthcare, but in facilities everywhere.
“We worked with the team at UC Davis to complete a major study that put microfiber on the map,” he continued. “Our study proved that microfiber not only had substantial environmental benefits through reduced chemical and water use, but that it also greatly reduced worker injuries of up to 70 percent because people didn’t have to lift and carry heavy buckets of water from room to room anymore.”
HospAA and a Commitment to Eliminating HAIs
After a few years, Rick started focusing on training. His experience as a contract cleaner had shown him different strategies for making processes more efficient, so he began approaching Environmental Services Directors and talking to them about training programs and systems to help them improve their operations and reduce hospital acquired infections (HAIs).
“This was the start of HospAA, or the Hospital Alliance Association, a non-profit organization I founded that helps promote the cleanliness in the healthcare industry by uniting various stakeholders to share ideas, knowledge and provide comprehensive training,” said Rick. “Our biggest event is an annual meeting that has been growing every year since we started it in 1996.”
Helping reduce HAIs has always been a priority for Rick, but it hit close to home when his brother-in-law died from one a few years ago. The loss devastated Rick’s sister and two children, aged 16 and 12 at the time.
“We lose so many people to HAIs and need to slow them down,” said Rick. “And we are trying. By elevating the important job of EVS Directors, identifying new ideas for disinfection--we are really trying.”
HospAA has been extremely involved with the effort, working with the California Department of Health Services, the California Hospital Association and healthcare infection control staff to develop cleaning methods and standards to reduce HAIs.
He points to data that shows a decrease in the number of HAIs in 2015.
“Last year was the first year we didn’t kill more people than the year before. This is a huge success and shows that we are doing something that’s working,” he said. “But we need to do more-- the goal of a hospital is to make people better, not get sicker. Cleaning staff play a critical role in that effort.”
An Ongoing Commitment to Education and Growth
As he nears retirement age, Rick unsurprisingly doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. For the past 16 years, he’s worked as a sales representative for SupplyWorks, a national provider of integrated facility maintenance solutions.
“My experience at SupplyWorks has really helped me become the salesman I am; it’s a great organization,” he said. “They have also been extremely supportive of my involvement with IEHA, an organization that I think could be instrumental in helping train employees and improve cleanliness in a healthcare facilities.”
Just as his father was committed to ongoing education, Rick has also focused on opportunities that help him learn and grow as a professional. In 2009, Rick earned his Certification.
“Because I was older, hitting the books was far more difficult than I anticipated. Going back to school made me very anxious,” he admitted. “I was so proud when I learned that I had passed the exam and had earned my certification. This has inspired me to urge others to do the same.”
Together, Ron and Rick Parker have had a significant impact on the cleaning industry. From developing and testing new innovations, such as the backpack vacuum, the development of HospAA and other collaborative efforts that have helped improve the level of cleanliness in hospitals, they have always maintained a commitment to excellence in the industry through education and opportunity.
“Too often, cleaning managers and directors move on to another job because they don’t feel their job is valued or respected,” said Rick. “Education is key to overcoming this. Education of healthcare administrators to understand the critical role of cleaning in helping reduce HAIs; education of cleaning managers to understand the right systems and protocols to have in place; and education of the cleaning workers to make sure the job is being completed correctly.”
It’s a commitment they’ve lived for the past 50 years, and quite a legacy they will leave.
