#33 Happy Anniversary APIC: 50 Years Strong!

For five decades, APIC has been a leading voice in the area of infection prevention and control. Listen as 2022 APIC President, Linda Dickey, and 1994 president and decades-long pioneering member, Barbara Russell, speak on the progression from the early days of infection prevention and control to the current-day focus on patient safety culture. What can we learn from the path already travelled and where will it lead? Hosted by: Silvia Quevedo, CAE About our Guests: Linda Dickey, RN, MPH, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC, Sr. Director, Epidemiology & Infection Prevention Linda Dickey is Sr. Director, Epidemiology & Infection Prevention at UCI Health and 2022 President-elect for APIC. Linda’s background includes serving on the Facilities Guidelines Institute (FGI) committee to develop design criteria for health care facilities. She has also taught for over 15 years for the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) in courses related to healthcare design, construction and water management and has served on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 188 committee to establish the standard for Legionella management. Linda’s clinical experience is in adult critical care and over 25 years of experience in epidemiology & infection prevention and quality, patient safety. She earned a nursing degree from the University of South Carolina and her Master in Public Health degree from the University of South Florida. Barbara S. Russell, MPH, BSHSA, RN, CIC, FAPIC After retiring from Baptist Hospital of Miami, Barbara still wanted to be active and involved in her passion, Infection Prevention. In early 2020, Barbara was contacted by the Florida Hospital Association (FHA), who were working with the State of Florida Department of Health, to contract with certified Infection Preventionists to help assess and assist LTC’s with preventing and controlling COVID-19 in residents and staff. Barbara was assigned to Region 7 which encompasses Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe Counties, the epicenter of COVID in Florida, especially in their long-term care facilities. In January 2021, Barbara became a full-time employee with the Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) Team of the Florida Department of Health. Visits included walking rounds to assess infection control practices, providing education and training for staff and residents, review and development of specific related policies and procedures, assisting in acquiring needed supplies and in some cases how to set up a COVID unit within their facility – to care for cases in residents who do not require hospitalization. As the COVID pandemic slows down our team is visiting facilities regarding other HAI’s. During Barbara’s extensive career, she has served in many leadership roles in Infection Prevention and Nursing organizations. Including, but not limited to, President of APIC and CBIC. She has been fortunate to be the recipient of many awards including the Carol DeMille and APIC President Awards.