FARAH C. ESCALONI (DEGANI)

*** ******* **, ************, ** 78660• 512-***-****• abt6ar@r.postjobfree.com

United States Citizen

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

Proven history as a safety specialist within the environmental, health and safety fields.

• Site advisement in employee health and safety including departmental training, permit and regulation advisement, waste management and implementation of policy.

• Skilled specialist with a job experience helping sites with safety compliance and related federal and state laws.

EDUCATION

TEXAS A&M SCHOOL OF RURAL PUBLIC HEALTH College Station, Tx

MPH- Environmental and Occupational Health GPA 3.5 05/2009

● Risk Assessment-group Superfund site project-North Cavalcade, Houston, Tx

● Environmental & Occupational Case Study capstone presentation on beryllium

● Industrial hygiene and HAZWOPER- education and field work training

● Human Factors and ergonomics management and case studies

● Toxicology- emphasis on organ systems and sampling

TEXAS A&M UNIVERISTY College Station, Tx

BS-Sociology GPA 3.1 12/2006

● President-Anthropological Society 2005-2006

● TAMU Cancer Society-Health advocacy member

EXPERIENCE

Full Time work

PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (PPD)

Health and Safety Specialist

• Oversite for the health and safety program at the PPD-Austin branch, interacting with local, state, and national governments (i.e OSHA, City of Austin, etc.) regarding permits and regulations, managing compliance.

• Managed injury reports and Worker’s Comp cases as well as advisement to employees on injury prevention.

• Educated employees on ergonomic safety, HAZMAT/HAZCOM, Radiation safety, Managed Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) online repository for Austin site,

blood borne pathogen (BBP), fire extinguisher and evacuation, respirator use and selection as well as general safety and CPR.

• Organized and lead an emergency response team (ERT) to handle employee emergencies as well as trained them in CPR/1st aid/AED usage.

• Utilized air sampling tools and noise sampling tools to advise sites on OSHA regulations and protect workers for hazards. This also included work with the Highland Heights branch to assist them with any safety issues and sampling needed.

• Collaborated with other on-site departments to promote safety including training sessions and ergonomic evaluations.

INFECTION PREVENTION & MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES Austin Tx/Highland Heights, Ky

04/2011-Present

Infection Control Practitioner – Kindred Hospital Houston, Tx

09/2009-12/2010

● Participated in Joint Commission (JCAHO) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) surveys leading to a successful accreditation. Collected and applied suggestions enabling the formulation of a conductive work environment and reducing the risk of infectious disease spreading to staff and patients.

● Participated with leadership, administration and physician committee chair in an Infection Control Committee. Presented monthly data to infection control committee and established goals for improvement in various areas of the hospital.

● Performed monthly environment of care and safety audits, reportable to administration. Identified areas needed for improvement and reported to the Environment of Care and Quality Directors for follow up.

● Worked with facility leadership committee and laboratory services on hospital policies to further protect the health of staff, patients, and visitors.

● Educated staff on policies as well as ways to help them protect themselves from acquiring and spreading infectious diseases (i.e influenza, multi drug resistant organisms, and so on). This helped reduce the overall numbers of infectious diseases when compared to years past.

● Worked along with vendors to reduce the overall number of infections and provide discussion of antibiotic stewardship with Ortho-McNeil to staff physician board in effort to reduce the number of multi drug resistant micro organisms.

Internships

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES

Austin, Tx United States

Grant Proposal Writing Intern- Epidemiology and Toxicology Unit 05/2009-08/2009

● Aided the program coordinator in finding information for the grant proposal to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Research performed on and off site facilitating data collection for proposal.

● Researched articles on 13 occupational indicators (such as lacerations at job sites) and guided information to appropriate source with related published articles.

● Gained knowledge from state workers on management of state wide health programs with end result of a successful acception of the grant proposal to NIOSH.

BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Houston, Tx

Environmental Safety Research Assistant 05/2008-08/2008

● Assisted in collecting data from clinical safety audits with Database entry and maintenance. Utilized a Pocket PC to fill in data by questionnaire at sites

● Trained in OSHA blood born pathogen protection, environmental and radiation safety for use in training purposes for off site personnel at clinics surveyed.

● Provided assistance to safety personnel in compiling reports for environmental safety issues within the satellite Baylor clinics in the Houston Metro area. This survey and compiled data was expressed in a publication by the Journal of Environmental Health.

TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Houston, Tx

Congenital Heart Research Intern 06/2004-12/2004

● Compiled medical record information for research and quality approval through AETNA with successful approval for recommendation for congenital cardiac surgical services.

● Assisted in project completion, created Excel data spreadsheets for research and compiled medical files with lead research nurse for Chief of Surgery's case studies.

● Worked with patients from foreign countries and learned about Medicaid and the role it has in the healthcare system.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Languages: English, working knowledge of Swedish and French

Volunteer: Houston Read Commission-Health education editor and fraud prevention lecturer, Relay for Life Team Captain at Texas A&M

Publications: Savely, SM, Hamilton, WJ, Degani, F, Weinberg, AD, Muraca, P: A Survey of Environmental Safety Issues at 20 Medical Clinics. Journal of Environmental Health publication 09/2010.

Affiliations: APIC Houston Chapter 006-****-****, ASSE Central Texas Chapter 2012-present

Training: HAZWOPER, HAZMAT, Infection Control, HIPAA, IRB, EPA, NIOSH, OSHA, DSHS-Texas, IATA, DOT, AHA 1st aid. CPR/AED instructor. ASP anticipated summer 2013. OSHA SSH anticipated-General Industry Dec 2013

Other: Proficiency in Microsoft Office Products (Word, Access, Excel, PPT), healthcare management database systems, and SPSS data mining and statistical analysis.

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