Corrections Facility Counts on PRIDE Industries to be Hospital-Grade Clean
With 1.4 million square feet, eight buildings, and sixteen small yards, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/California Health Care Facility (CDCR/CHCF) Stockton is a licensed medical facility that provides medical, mental health, and dental care to approximately 1,200 inmates. It employs approximately 4,000 professionals who administer an array of services. The facility is further responsible for the housing and incarceration of about 2,450 felons/patients who receive various treatments and care. The prison’s licensure requires compliance with Titles 22 and 24, which include extremely strict guidelines for environmental services, ensuring the proper cleaning and maintenance of a facility at a hospital standard of care.
The Challenge: A Shortage of Reliable, Trained HIPPA-Compliant Staff
Since the facility’s opening in 2013, the CDCR/CHCF has struggled to find and retain a reliable, knowledgeable environmental services workforce. The unique nature of the organization and its facility—its mission, its need for patient confidentiality, its sophisticated training requirements, its stringent cleaning requirements, its security clearance mandates, and the people skills required for patient interaction—presented significant challenges.
“Before PRIDE Industries, CDCR used a porter system, civil service personnel, and another contractor, but there were a lot of hiring and retention issues with all three,” said Ande Heckman, Correctional Business Manager II at the facility. “Then we found PRIDE Industries. Not only did their experience and expertise stand out, but so did their mission to create employment for people with disabilities.”
The Solution: PRIDE Industries Provides Hospital-Standard Environmental Services with a Consistent Workforce
“We were able to offer CDCR the personnel resource bandwidth and expertise needed to resolve their staffing issues,” said Gary Swarthout, General Manager of Hospitality Services at PRIDE Industries. “Equipped with the necessary recruitment strategies, infrastructure, quality and safety experience, and an eager workforce, we expedited and activated services for the facility.”
This has included a staff trained specifically in hospital-standard cleaning protocols—one that consistently passes security clearance investigations.
The Result: Consistently High Assessment Scores, Reduced Disease, and Preservation of Licensure
“Our approach has resulted not only in meeting CDCR/CHCF high cleaning standards, but it has also enabled a robust review, reporting, and corrective action process along with monthly executive summaries that highlight levels of compliance and performance,” said Swarthout.
The team’s efforts and infrastructure also resulted in CDCR/CHCF Stockton obtaining a Healthcare Assessment Maintenance score of 92.5 percent in March 2022 and 85.4 percent in October 2022. These results point to measurable outcomes which preserve the facility’s licensure and its environment of care for patient housing and treatment, ultimately reducing the spread of disease and infection.
A Full-Service Solution
PRIDE Industries recruits, hires, places, and comprehensively trains its CDCR custodial staff—specifically in medical-standard operating procedures, safety, quality, compliance, equipment, and institutional policies.
Business Excellence with a Positive Social Impact
PRIDE Industries is a social enterprise with a mission to provide employment for people with disabilities by delivering high-value business services in the areas of facilities management and manufacturing. The company provides award-winning environmental services in large spaces like the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport as well as at large corporations like Vision Service Plan.
“Before PRIDE Industries, CDCR used a porter system, civil service personnel, and another contractor, but there were a lot of hiring and retention issues with all three. Then we found PRIDE Industries. Not only did their experience and expertise stand out, but so did their mission to create employment for people with disabilities.”
