This program was designed to meet the educational needs of Infection Prevention and Control professionals across a continuum of care. Program content addressed knowledge, standards and practices aimed at reducing, preventing and eliminating healthcare-associated infections.

About the Speakers:

Lorrie Calabrese, BSN, RN, CNOR, GTS, CCSVP

Lorrie Calabrese is a Clinical Nurse Consultant with Molnlycke Healthcare. Lorrie provides training, Clinical Education and troubleshooting support for clinical professionals. Her educational expertise includes numerous infection control topics and best practices; however her special areas of interest are in assessing, planning, implementing and maintaining infection control and sterile technique in the peri-operative environment.
Ms. Calabrese had intensive clinical experience as an operating room nurse in the Cleveland Clinic System, specializing in Orthopedics and spinal surgery. She also has a background in Clinical Research, having coordinated stem cell research and cardiovascular studies.

Lorrie’s previous position and seven years of experience afforded her cleaning, disinfection and sterilization expertise. Endoscopy, specifically flexible endoscopes and the GI arena are also areas where Lorrie’s guidance and knowledge assisted her Customers.

Ms. Calabrese holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ursuline College, in Pepper Pike, OH. She is a member of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA), and (IAHCSMM), International Association of Healthcare Materiel Management.

Current certifications include Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). Lorrie is a CNOR (Certified Nurse peri- Operating Room) as well as a Certificate GI Technical Specialist (GTS).

Lorrie has written two articles for Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) and co-written power point presentations for credentialed providers. Lorrie was a National presenter at the 2014 ASCA National Convention in Nashville. The ASCA Focus magazine featured a column on Survival Guide to Reprocessing utilizing Lorrie as their primary source in April 2014.

“The perioperative environment requires an understanding of the science of sterility assurance; my current role affords me the ability to share what I have learned with OR personnel on a first-hand basis.”

Kathleen Hale, RN, BSN, MHSA

Kathy is currently the Director of Regulatory Affairs at Allegheny General Hospital.  She has a Bachelor’s of Nursing from Duke University and a Master’s of Health Services Administration from The George Washington University. Kathy has over 30 years of experience in healthcare, first as a bedside provider with a focus in adult critical care and post anesthesia care and later entering into the world of risk management, patient safety and regulatory affairs.

She was the Risk Manager at Johns Hopkins Hospital for 10 years and then relocated to Pittsburgh. Her adventures in Pittsburgh include those as System Director of Patient Safety for UPMC, Director of Patient Safety and Regulatory Affairs at UPMC Mercy and UPMC South Side and time spent as a consultant for UPMC International conducting preparatory surveys in anticipation of Joint Commission International Surveys.

In her current role Kathy is responsible for compliance with all applicable regulations for a 572 bed, TJC Accredited, level 1 trauma center, with 5000 employees, 800 physicians and more than 500 trainees . Those regulations come from a variety of agencies including, the PA Department of Health, The Joint Commission, OSHA, DEA, and licensing boards.

Dr. Susanne Lee – Biography to be posted soon!

Dr. Susanne Lee (formerly Surman-Lee) is a State Registered Consultant Clinical Scientist and an owner director of Leegionella Ltd which provides internationally recognized Independent Advisory and Consultancy Services on a worldwide basis. Dr Lee is a water specialist advisor to several NHS Trusts supporting the development and implementable of water safety plans, providing independent audit services including of incident and outbreak management and bespoke training for all of staff who have an impact on water quality including senior management and infection prevention and control specialists.

Dr. Lee has a PhD on the growth of Legionella in biofilms and over 45 years’ experience working in both in clinical and public health microbiology within the National Health Service and the Public Health Laboratory Service (which became part of the Health Protection Agency and is now part of Public Health England) until her retirement in 2010 when she was the Director of the London Food Water and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory providing food, water and environmental microbiology services to London and home counties regulatory and public health authorities. She was also a member of the national waterborne infections outbreak and training teams.

Dr. Lee is actively involved on research on the detection and prevention of waterborne infections in healthcare settings has many published papers and was an author editor of the WHO publications; Legionella and the Prevention of Legionellosis and Water Safety in Buildings.  She is active in improving national and international standards for managing building water systems and has been actively involved in developing guidelines and standards on an international basis as member of the UK Health And Safety Executives Legionella Guidance HSG 274 and the Department of Health s Guidance HTM 04-01. She is Chair of for the ESGLI European Technical Guidelines for the Prevention, Control and Investigation, of Infections Caused by Legionella species and is also chair of BS 8680 Water quality – Water Safety Plans – Code of practice and BS 8580 part 2 Risk assessments for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other waterborne pathogens Code of practice. Dr. Lee advises the RSPH on water related policy matters and is Chair of the RSPH Water Special Interest Group and Programme Director for the RSPH water webinar series which has a world wide audience.

Rick Okraszewski (Ricky O)

Rick Okraszewski, also known as Ricky O has worked as a construction carpenter for 40 years. His education includes a business degree from Robert Morris College, as well as completing the Carpenter’s Apprenticeship program. Ricky’s career has included jobsite foreman and superintendent for construction projects ranging from $10,000 to $30 million in value. Ricky moved from the field to work as an instructor for the Carpenters Apprenticeship program, which lead to his promotion to director of the KML Carpenters Apprenticeship program. Most recently, Ricky has moved from the director’s position at the training center, to the Marketing Industry Outreach Director for the Keystone Mountain Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters covering eight states and including 43,000 members. One of Rick’s proudest accomplishments is his commitment to patient safety through collaboration with Healthcare Professionals. He is helping to create an understanding within the construction, renovation and maintenance industry as to the need for enhanced work practices creating a safe environment for all.

Heather Rommes, MSOL, BA

Heather Rommes is a learning and development professional with deep knowledge of culture change, leadership development and customer experience. For more than 15 years Heather has applied concepts and theories that create sustainable learning and development, solve problems and foster disruptive innovation across healthcare at all levels of the organization. The content is not unique to healthcare but developed in this high-stake industry and curated for the universal business need in a way that effectively addresses the needs of any enterprise where leaders seek learning, engagement and motivation. Heather has assisted C-suite level leaders, frontline staff and newly formed teams using engaging content and energetic facilitation to augment current platforms and supports crucial messages.

Heather is a self-proclaimed nerd (and proud of it), and an accomplished facilitator, known for her work on Mindfulness, Influence and Shared Purpose. Be prepared, as a facilitator she loves to have fun and requires audience participation. Heather earned her undergraduate degree in counseling psychology from Thiel College, and her graduate degree in Organizational Leadership from Robert Morris University.