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ASHE recognizes member achievements within health care engineering

CHICAGO, Illinois, 12 August 2021: The American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association said it celebrated the outstanding contributions its members have made to improve the health care physical environment. ASHE presented several awards during its 58th Annual Conference and Technical Exhibition, from August 8 to 11 in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Crystal Eagle Leadership Award, considered ASHE’s lifetime achievement award, went to Timothy Eugene Adams, FASHE, CHFM, CHC, an ASHE member since 1990. Presently, he is employed by Indiana University Health as program director of system environment of care and life safety, developing and directing a systematic program to promote best practices for all health care facilities throughout the health system.

Adams served as the director of leadership development for ASHE from 2013-19 and held numerous other positions within the society since joining the team in 2005 after 30 years working in health care technical services and clinical engineering. Adams is a Certified Healthcare Facilities Manager, a Certified Healthcare Constructor, a Certified Life Safety Specialist and a Fellow status member with ASHE (FASHE).

He is a past president and a long-term Board member of the Indiana Society for Healthcare Engineering, a 15-year member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 Technical Committee and a member of the national development team for the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS).

The ASHE President’s Award, which is presented at the discretion of the sitting ASHE president to an individual who goes above and beyond to optimize the health care physical environment, was presented to Sean M Goings, CEM, CHSP, SASHE, President, DAC, Inc. in Houston, Texas. Goings has spent much of his over 20-year career working for global solution providers that serve health care, such as Siemens and Schneider Electric, and he continues to deliver efficient solutions in the built-environment, ASHE said.

Goings is a Senior status member with ASHE (SASHE), a Certified Energy Manager and a Certified Healthcare Safety Professional. He has been a featured conference speaker for numerous organizations including ASHE and several affiliated chapters.

He has served on the Board of the Texas Association of Healthcare Facilities Management (TAHFM) for over a decade. He is a past president for the Houston Area Association of Hospital Engineering, and from 2016-2020, he served as an ASHE Associate Member Advisory Board Representative.

Also at the Annual Conference, ASHE recognized members who attained senior (SASHE) status this year and members who have fellow (FASHE) status within ASHE.

The SASHE designation is bestowed on those who have been ASHE members in good standing for at least five years and have supported ASHE in terms of education and leadership. The following members are new SASHE recipients:

  • Lindsey Brackett, CHC, CHFM, SASHE, Legacy FM, LLC, Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Joseph G. Buri, CHFM, SASHE, UNC Health Southeastern, Lumberton, North Carolina
  • Mark H. Dease, CHFM, SASHE, Prisma Health, Greenville, South Carolina
  • Robert J. Heidelbaugh, SASHE, WellSpan Health, York, Pennsylvania
  • Frank D. Rudilosso, PE, M.Eng, CHSP, SASHE, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
  • Clayton Smith, CHFM, SASHE, Children’s Health System of Texas, Dallas, Texas
  • Mark J. Thuringer, CHFM, CHC, SASHE, St. Croix Regional Medical Center, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin

ASHE’s Regional Leader Award recognizes people for their contributions to the fields of health care engineering and facility management; planning, design, and construction; safety; clinical and biomedical engineering; and technical management. The recipients are:

  • Region 1: Charles Brown, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island
  • Region 2: Joyce Malone, Broadmead Senior Living, Cockeysville, Maryland
  • Region 3: Jerry L. Thompson, PE, CHE, Duke Health, Durham, North Carolina
  • Region 4: Terry E. Bowen, PE, CPE, CHFM, Tift Regional Health System, Tifton, GA
  • Region 5: Jason Michael Hawk, St. Joseph Memorial Hospital, Murphysboro, Illinois
  • Region 6: Robert J. Dubiel, CHFM, CHC, Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire,Eau Claire, Wisconsin
  • Region 7: Taylor Vaughn, MBA, CHFM, CLSS-HC, CHEPP, Children’s Health, Rockwall, Texas
  • Region 8: Nic Riesenberg, CHFM, CHC, North Kansas City Hospital, North Kansas City, Missouri
  • Region 9: Anthony K. Crawford, CHFM, CHEM, Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, Vacaville, California
  • Region 10: Clay Ciolek, CHFM, Providence Health & Services, Olympia, Washington

ASHE reports success at International Code Council hearings

CHICAGO, Illinois, United States, 15 May 2021: The Committee on Health Care (CHC), a partnership between the American Society of Health Care Engineering (ASHE) and the International Code Council (ICC), in April and May, took part in virtual testimonies before several ICC Committees at the Code Action Committee hearings in regard to the latest round of code proposals submitted by the CHC and others, ASHE said. The CHC was successful in getting approval for 10 of its 15 proposals and testified in opposition to 18 other health care facility proposals, of which 17 were disapproved, it added.

The biggest “win” was the approval of CHC proposal FS49, which provides an exception in the International Building Code (IBC) that will allow Group I-2 facilities to use a lay-in ceiling system with ceiling tiles that weigh a minimum of one pound per square foot, combined with a fully ducted HVAC system, to serve as part of the system to limit the transfer of smoke, ASHE reported. This exception aligns the IBC with the current requirements within the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code, allowing hospitals to avoid the conflict between the IBC and Life Safety Code, ASHE said.

The five CHC proposals that were disapproved will be modified to address the committee’s concerns and resubmitted as part of the public comment hearings that will take place in September, ASHE said.

By way of giving a context to its reporting, ASHE said that most health care facility professionals understand the challenges posed by conflicts in building codes. Unnecessary and conflicting codes and regula­tions, it said, can be costly and that the resources spent to comply with contradicting requirements could be put to better use in addressing other issues.

ASHE said one of its goals is to establish a system of unified codes, which it added, is imperative to improve quality and increase access to health care services by upgrad­ing or replacing aged health care facilities and infra­structure using cost savings resulting from the elimination of conflicting codes and regulations.

Since 2011, ASHE said, the CHC has brought together health care facilities managers, designers, industry professionals and building officials to create a better understanding of how health care codes function and are applied. Through this understanding, the CHC has developed hundreds of proposals to help align the ICC codes with other health care codes and standards.

ASHRAE publishes updated health care facility ventilation standard

ATLANTA, Georgia, 11 May 2021: ASHRAE has released an updated edition of ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170, Ventilation of Health Care FacilitiesMaking the announcement through a Press release, ASHRAE said the standard offers guidance, regulation and mandates to designers of health care facilities.

The 2021 edition, ASHRAE said, delivers critical guidance for designers and operators of these front-line facilities and incorporates 17 addenda to the 2017 edition of the standard.

According to ASHRAE, changes include:

  • Expanded requirements to allow airborne infectious isolation room exhaust discharge to general exhaust under certain conditions
  • Revised scope, with improved guidance on thermal comfort conditions
  • Extensive modifications to address the Outpatient and Residential sections
  • Extensive revisions to air filtration requirements
  • Addition of new columns in the ventilation tables to prescribe filtration requirement and designate unoccupied turndown
  • Expanded guidance on separation distance requirements for varied intake and exhaust arrangements, coordinating with related ASHRAE Standard 62.1 data
  • Improved guidance related to behavioral and mental health
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