Healthcare Facilities Management Society of New Jersey, Inc.

Serving Healthcare Since 1949

 

 

*** General Membership Meeting***

 

Minutes to the Meeting of

March 15, 2007

 

 President John DiGirolomo, CHFM, SASHE called the meeting to order on Thursday, March 15, 2007, at the Galloping Hill Inn, Union, New Jersey, commencing at 6:21 p.m. Ben DiFranco lead everyone in the pledge of allegiance. Self-introductions were made by all in attendance.

 

 

SPONSOR

 

            The sponsor for this evening’s meeting was Hawk Solution Group

 

 

 

EDUCATIONAL SESSION TOPIC

 

  The educational session was presented by Mr. Dan Chisolm of Motor Generator Institute. Dan has over 30 years of experience dealing with emergency power systems and generators, he sat on NFPA committees concerning EPS, and has worked with such clients as the Department of Defense and John Hopkins University Hospital and most recently has been contracted by the Federal Government, Office of Emergency Management to help review the standard requirements for these types of systems.

 

Dan gave an interesting and informational presentation on the workings of emergency power systems in healthcare and the pitfalls that many facility managers are faced with, followed by a question and answer session.

 

President John DiGirolomo thanked Dan and representatives of Hawk Solution Group.

 

 

           

DINNER BREAK.

 

 

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

 

John DiGirolomo announced that he, William Anderson and Dan Campbell of the Delaware Valley Chapter will be presenting a CHFM training course to be held May 1^st in Philadelphia and urged anyone interested in talking the exam to please register.

John informed the group that Advocacy Chair Roger Roop would be presenting some very exciting news about fire alarm testing.

John solicited the group for any additional advocacy items.

   

PRESIDENT-ELECT’S REPORT

 

Ben DiFranco reminded the group that Mike Yarnell of OSHA would be presenting next month and to invite key members of their organization.

A tentative topic has been selected for the all-day seminar and that information would follow, Ben also asked for ideas concerning the all day field trip scheduled for August.

Ben informed the group that sponsorship is still available for future meetings in 2007.

 

 

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

 

Bill Anderson, CHFM, FASHE presented the following synapses of the 2007 budget:

 

            Beginning Balance:     $66,234.55

            Disbursements:           $3,853.34

            Deposits:                     $6,809.00

            Ending Balance:          $69,190.21

 

The organization is solvent.

 

Bill announced to the group that we currently have approximately 35 outstanding membership dues and if not resolved by the end of the month these members will be removed from the roster.

 

It was announced that Past President and Audit Committee Chair Joseph Berlesky CHFM conducted the 2006 Treasure’s Activities Audit on March 8^th, 2007, finding that all books and recordings are in proper order.

 

 

 

SECRETARY'S REPORT

 

Edward Fay requested that any members wishing to include pertinent information regarding their sponsorship or presentation for future meetings to be included in the reminder emails to please contact him.

 

 

ADVOCACY

 

Roger Roop was “delighted” to announce to the group that he has received information from the New Jersey Department of Health and Social Services announcing the uniform testing requirements from NFPA 72 for ambulatory care settings. Although it will not be officially recognized until next year’s revision, waivers are available for facilities that require them. Further clarification on how this will affect Acute Care settings still requires further advocacy.

 

The next “Hot” item that Advocacy will begin working on is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections requirement to test air quality prior to running generators, Roger has offered to draft a template for all members to customize to help bring the concerns of potential non-compliance with other AHJ’s if they were to adhere to the NJDEP’s requirement. This letter will be made available to the members on the website as soon as it’s completed.

 

 

NEWSLETTER

 

John Schliewenz thanked everyone for their input into the “Blueline” the HFMSNJ’s quarterly news letter. John asked the group to please contact him with any issues, information regarding the good of the order, etc... that may be able to be included in the 2^nd quarter news letter due out in June.

 

 

MEMBERSHIP

 

Peter Appelmann, brought three (3) potential members before the group for consideration, all 3 were regular members currently employed in healthcare facilities; Palisades, Hackensack and Englewood Hospitals. All three were escorted out by James Corueil to allow for a vote.

 

All three new members were unanimously inducted

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEBSITE

 

Oscar Gonzalez was unavailable for the report; Ben DiFranco announced that Oscar continues to need additional participation for the 2008 Ad Journal.

 

 

 

 

EAB

 

James Corueil informed the group that the State of New Jersey is seeking to criminalize the misclassification of independent contractors for the hiring of trades people, the bill is aimed at stopping the practice of hiring illegal aliens as contractors.

 

Jim also informed the group of a purposed addition to the licensure of facilities that have Child Care Centers requiring them to have carbon monoxide detectors located in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

 

 

 

 

 

No report

 

 

 

 

AUDIT & NOMINATING COMMITTEE

 

 

No report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOCIAL JUSTICE

 

Frank Keller announced that the next Bridges run would be April 13th to NYC and asked that anyone interested in participating should contact him for directions. Frank also let the group know that since the weather will be changing please continue to donate blankets and toiletries but try to hold any winter clothing until next year, and that a sub-committee was being formed to aid in the selection process for the x-mas in April program that helps “fix up” a home for a needed family.

 

 

DOH UPDATES

 

No Report

 

 

 

 

NFPA UPDATES

 

No Report

 

 

 

 

JOINT COMMISSION UPDATES

 

 

John DiGirolomo announced that the Joint Commission has adopted the 2005 Edition of NFPA 99.

 

John also announced that many facilities are being closely scrutinized for listing too many potential or actual issues on their SOC’s in an attempt to avoid being cited during an inspection. The joint Commission who opposes this practices is cracking down by requiring facilities to conduct a full risk assessment on their SOC’s and institute interim life safety measures if needed. John explained that being overly thorough with identifying PFI’s could result in conditional accreditation in an area where regardless of the number of occurrences would have only resulted in single room for improvements citations.

 

 

           

OLD BUSINESS

 

John Schliewenz announced that he intends to bring for a vote at April’s meeting the concept of the “Executive Hospital Engineers Club” where members gather without vendors at a random facility and meet to discuss various routine operational items.

 

 

 

 

            

NEW BUSINESS

 

Gary Giovinazzo shared with the group a hand out he had prepared for healthcare facilities based on the findings of a self audit that was conducted inspecting compliance with Environmental Protection Agency Standards.

 

The self audit details many of the repeated and often over looked items found at a number of NY facilities, ranging from hazardous waste, toxic substances, right-to-know and many others. John DiGirolomo thanked Gary for the work he put into the document and bringing it to the membership. The documents will be posted on the Shared Resources section of the website.

 

 

ASHE

 

President John DiGirolomo, CHFM, SASHE welcomed Joseph Rawson SASHE, ASHE region 2 representative who took a few moments to speak with members about the latest ASHE updates.

 

Joe told everyone about how successfully the ASHE Plan, Design & Construction convention had been with over 1500 vendors and 2000 people in attendance.

 

ASHE has now reached 8000 members and Joe thanked everyone one who recently joined, a quick recap of ASHE’s mission statement and strategic goals were covered as well as some updates on the changes to the Levels of Affiliation program for the various chapters and the CHFM program.

 

The group was urged to continue to support ASHE with their advocacy issues and told everyone to begin looking out for ASHE’s new “E-Learning” program that will be introduced soon.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

GOOD OF THE ORDER

 

John DiGirolomo informed the group that he has been contacted by a search firm seeking for a candidate for a director of engineering position at a facility located in central Illinois.

 

 

           

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:32 P.M.