Healthcare Facilities Management Society of New Jersey, Inc.

Serving Healthcare Since 1949

Healthcare Facilities Management Society of New Jersey

*** General Membership Meeting***

Minutes to the Meeting of

February 16, 2006

President John DiGirolomo, CHFM, called the meeting to order on Thursday, February 16, 2006, at the Galloping Hill Inn, Union, New Jersey, commencing at 6:05 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. There was a moment of silence observed for the men and women who are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places both near and far. Self-introductions were made.

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

SPONSOR

The sponsor for this evening's event is Rich Snyder of the Lew Corporation. After the dinner break Mr. Snyder provided a brief synopsis of what the Lew Corporation does. He also advised that as of May, 2006, there is a new lead law going into effect in New Jersey which states that any facilities which house women or children for more than thirty days, must be abated of lead. Alan Nau of Advantage Construction was the evening's other sponsor but could not be in attendance.

EDUCATIONAL SESSION TOPIC

Our presenter for the evening's education session was Mr. Jack Murphy of JJM & Associates, LLC. His topic tonight will be New Jersey Fire Codes. He gave an extensive Power Point Presentation on common violations found in Hospitals. Anyone that would like to have a copy of this presentation may contact the secretary to obtain it.

DINNER BREAK AT 7:20 P.M.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT

John DiGirolomo, CHFM reported that after a two-year's absence the ASHE table has been placed in the back of the meeting room and will be present at all future meetings. He encouraged all the members to stop and pick up ASHE promotional information and join if not currently a member. John mentioned that the ASHE Region 2 Representative Joe Rawson is here tonight and will address us. President DiGirolomo also announced that there is an opening on the EAB and if anyone is interested in serving, please let him know. He also announced that the 2006 Ad Journal was being handed out before and after the meeting to avoid the cost of postage. He asked all to pick up their books and any coworker's book as all are in envelops with the member's name to avoid duplication. President DiGirolomo announced that a survey is being prepared for the membership in order to serve them better. Details will be forthcoming. He also announced that Ben DiFranco, CHFM has a proposed new logo to unveil this evening. The new logo will be put to a vote of the entire membership. President DiGirolomo commended one of our members-Patrick Hogan for all his hard work on membership.

PRESIDENT-ELECT'S REPORT

Ben DiFranco, CHFM extended his thanks to Mr. Murphy. March will feature Special Agent Tim Nester speaking on identity theft, please invite your security personnel .Ben DiFranco presented the new graphic for a HMFSNJ logo. This will go out to all members for a vote. The proposed new logo will be available for member review on the website.

SECRETARY'S REPORT

Rick Ciullo requested that all Committee Chairs please submit their reports to him electronically at rdciullo@ashland.com .

TREASURER'S REPORT

Treasurer Robert Thompson reports that we are solvent and a budget has been submitted to the executive committee for review.. He reminded everyone that all dues are required to be submitted no later than March 16, 2006. When paying please be sure to update your contact information, if necessary, with the registrar, Oscar Gonzalez.

AD JOURNAL

Margaret Nesby distributed the 2006 Ad Journal to all members in attendance. In preparation for the 2007 Ad Journal, Margaret requested that members become involved with content and ideas. If there are any questions relative to the Ad Journal, please contact Margaret at margaretnesby@truevalue.net .

EDUCATION AND EVENTS CALENDAR

Ben DiFranco, CHFM, advised that while the educational portions seem brief they would, however, provide essential information on many valuable topics.

A representative from the FBI will be speaking on Identity Theft at our next meeting, Thursday, March 16, 2006.

ADVOCACY

Our Advocacy Chairman, Robert Roop, P.E., reports that six members of our organization are on the committee working on NFPA 99, "The Healthcare Facilities Code". One of our new members, Ed Fay, will co-chair our Advocacy Committee. He asked the membership to respond to and submit comments on JCAHO's EC 7.40 standard on generator testing.

ASHE

Mr. Joe Rawson provided a presentation that detailed all the programs ASHE has to offer its membership. Joe encouraged our membership to become members of ASHE and take advantage of the many benefits, a brief description follows

MEMBERSHIP

There were three new candidates for membership:

1. Michael Moore

2. TomWilgocki

3. David Gonzalez

There was a motion to accept these candidates made by Bill Anderson. James Corueil seconded the motion and the members unanimously approved.

WEBSITE

Oscar Gonzalez, indicated that the website has become more "user friendly". There are only two areas that are restricted. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to improve the site, please address them with Oscar.

LEVELS OF AFFILIATION

Ben DiFranco and Rick Ciullo have been putting together the required documentation

to submit to the committee before the deadline. They asked that Jim Corueil to forward

a summary of the EAB minutes to be included in the submittal

NJHA

John Schliewenz, RA advised that NJHA would be putting together a questionnaire in an effort to obtain data for hospital construction costs. This data will be provided to healthcare facilities throughout the State of New Jersey via their website. (www.njha.com)

SAFETY

James Corueil advises that there must be 12" of horizontal space from a hand sanitizer stations to prevent ignition, caused by an electrical switches or outlets

Dispensers cannot be installed over or directly adjacent to an ignition source. This is the wording of the amendment to an interim final rule made by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Research on hand sanitizers was commissioned by ASHE involving gels and liquids. Many institutions use aerosols and foams which are much more flammable so if your facility has elected to use them, even more caution would be prudent.

NEWSLETTER

Mike DePadova will help with our Newsletter.

EAB

James Corueil reported that the Fire Code Advisory Council voted to approve a draft rule proposal to eliminate the exemption granted to long-term care facilities to be required to have fire sprinkler protection. Additionally, he reported that the DEP fined a Paterson, N.J. company for numerous chemical processing and storage violations. For the first time, we have heard of fines for a non-working fire suppression system. The fine was $90,000 and the remediation work is estimated at $250,000.

James also advised that the State of New Jersey is in the red by approximately 3.5 billion dollars. Charity care may be cut in an effort to reduce the deficit. No one is sure how healthcare will be affected until the Governor's budget plan is made public. The Governor's budget is due to be presented to the Legislature by the end of March.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Frank Keller advised that there is a Bridges Run tomorrow, February 17, 2006. Anyone attending the run is to meet at Christ Church, Summit, NJ. Please be sure to bring food and gently used clothes. Frank was also interested in ideas for a community project for HMFSNJ.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION COMMITTEE

George Thomas, FASHE stated that any member may nominate members for regional leader, manager of the year, or special recognition for services that go above and beyond our normal duties.

DOH UPDATES

There were no new DOH updates to report.

JCAHO UPDATES

John DiGirolomo, CHFM, indicated that there has been a considerable rise in the number of Life Safety Code findings (code violations) as there has been during the past year. There has been an increase in PDA's – Preliminary Denial of Accreditation and in Conditional Accreditation resulting from the inspections of the new Life Safety Code Surveyors. Additionally, John informed the membership, that it shall be mandatory to post your SOC on the JCAHO extranet site in 2007. Organizations may begin using the system in March 2006. This will allow them time to become familiar with the process.