Established in November 1978, the concept of a state wide Hospital Engineering Society was little more than a dream in the minds of a dedicated few industry professionals. The very first organizational meeting held at Michigan Hospital Association Headquarters November 2, 1978, brought together 14 members of the four districts with the purpose of electing two members from each district to serve on a bylaws committee with David Watson elected as chairman. The committee completed and submitted the finished product to each of the District Societies for final approval on January 31, 1979. By April 6, 1979 each of the Districts had approved the bylaws and elected two representatives to serve as the first MISHE Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors consisted of Trustees Barnard Disstelrath, Karl, Muehlfeld, Gene Roelofs, Ed Schneider, Ira Spieker and Michigan Hospital Association Codes and Standards Department Liaison Allen Schoolcraft and the executive officers, David Watson President, Bill Parcells President Elect, Roy Agle Secretary/Treasurer. This group gave meaning to the organization by establishing the main objectives of the society as providing for better patient care through improved engineering practices. To meet this objective the Board chose to establish the following standing committees:

Codes and Standards: This committee has contributed significantly to the development, updating, and rewriting of construction, fire, health, and safety codes, both on the state and national level. A great deal of credit for these accomplishments goes to Elliott Guttman, the continuous chairman of this committee through 1990. He was followed by Roy Agle 1991-1994, and Dick Gudkeses 1994-1997.

Education Committee: Many educational programs have been sponsored by MISHE with the help of this committee. The annual seminar in the fall , the HPS mini clinic and trade show in the spring, as well as MHA sponsored seminars. The committee has been chaired by Ira Spieker 1978-1980, Thomas Pruente 1980-1983, Richard McCormick 1984-1986, David Krull 1987, Paul Horn 1988-1989, Tom Chill 1990, Larry LeForge 1993-present.

Newsletter Committee: This committee is responsible for the publication and development of the MISHE monthly Newsletter. They rely on the membership to contribute news on topics of interest and the codes and standards members provide any current information on changes and new developments. The Newsletter is printed and mailed by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, who also contributes relevant articles and information for distribution to the entire association membership. The committee has been chaired by Allen Schoolcraft 1979-1982, David Watson 1982-1984, Casey Sobczak 1985-1986, Larry LeForge 1987, David Eilers 1988-1990, Bruce Marsh 1991-1994, Pier Zanoni 1995 to present.

Annual Meeting: This group is charged with the responsibility of the planning and presentation of the annual MISHE meeting held every fall. The committee is chaired by the President Elect and is supported by the other executive officers with the help from representatives of the District Societies. The first of these was on March 12, 1980 at the Northville Hilton Inn, in Troy, Michigan as a joint effort with the Michigan Department of Public Health and Michigan Architects Association. In 1995 the annual conference at Boyne Mountain expanded to include a Vendor show which was a huge success mainly as the result of the hard work put in by Paul Horn, Ron Borke, and Mike Lauhoff.

Membership Committee: During the 1982-1983 year, this additional standing committee was established. This committee was chaired by Roy Agle from 1982-1989 and under his leadership the Society was granted affiliation with the American Society of Hospital Engineering and Michigan Hospital Association. An ASHE banner was presented by Bennet McNeal to MISHE at the first annual meeting on March 12, 1980. The formal association dissolved in 1987 but many of the UP members continued their individual association with the group which has extended an open invitation to all who wish to attend events. In 1990 Larry LeForge became committee chairman and served in that capacity through 1993. He was followed by Lynn Palaszeski 1994-1995, and Ron Borke 1995-1997.

Directory Committee: The exact year of the creation of a formal membership listing for the Society is not truly known but in some form from the beginning the Directory has been a major source of revenue for the association and provides a method of networking among the membership. In the early development of the directory, four members gave their time to single handedly accomplish this project. They are David Watson, Bill Parcells, Roy Agle, and Dick McCormick. At some point after Dick McCormick’s tenure, the Directory committee became a standing committee to the board. Tom Chill became the first chairman and served from 1990-1993 and has been succeeded by Dave Koutz 1994 to present.

Education Committee: In 1991 the formal reporting of the Education committee began with the development of the Mechanic Education and Certification for Healthcare (MECHANICAL) program for the certification of Healthcare Mechanics, initiated by Larry LeForge in cooperation with the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI). The committee consisted of Larry LeForge, Dick Gudkese, Chip Riddle, and Bob McCurdy who over the period from 1991 to 1993 worked countless hours to develop the certification program. In 1994 Dave Koutz became the fifth member of the committee.

After investing volunteer time and capital amounting to more than $100,000, the program evolved to a point where it now includes 3 levels of validated competence testing, (Entry Level, Certified and Senior Certified), study materials with an extensive bibliography and sample test questions, a Structured Interview Manual designed to help Healthcare Engineers and Human Resource Departments "Hire the best mechanic for the job", a Scholarship program, and plans for Continuing Education Opportunities for Healthcare Mechanics.

In late 1995, MISHE recognized the Kansas Healthcare Engineering Association as its first Charter Member Organization and was shortly followed by California and Wisconsin Associations. Since its development the MECH program has certified over 150 mechanics in Michigan and ____ throughout the other member organizations.

In 1996 the MISHE Board of Directors recognized the need to provide stability and future growth of the program beyond the dedication of volunteered time of the Education Committee and established John Holman as the Director of the MECH program. John’s role has since been expanded to include the organization of the Vendor Show at the annual meeting and continues to serve as an advisor in support of the many activities of MISHE as well as developing any possibilities for grant options to help fund the program as a paid State Director directly reporting to the MISHE Board of Directors.

The MECH program has been recognized as a method for Healthcare Institutions to meet the Continuing Education and Competency Standards of the Joint Commission.

The revenues of the MECH program and support of the Board of Directors of MISHE have also lead to the award of the first state Scholarship in October 1997 with plans for eventual development to include all the Charter Member States.

MECH is just one more way that MISHE "Provides Better Patient Care Through Quality Education and Engineering".

In 1997 after action by the board, Bob McCurry and Chip Riddle developed the president scholarship award consisting of two $1000.00 grants that were awarded at the 1997 annual conference.

The financial support for the Society has come from membership dues, the profits from the Directory, revenue from seminars, the annual meeting vendor show and the MECH program. These programs have helped to support the activities of Host charters each year for the ASHE annual meetings, starting with a contribution to the sixth International Congress of Hospital Engineering in Washington DC in 1980. Funds have also been allocated annually to develop and maintain a library of tapes and cassettes for training purposes available to any member for a nominal rental fee.

Historically, one of the brightest moments for MISHE was the National annual ASHE conference held in Grand Rapids, on June 13-17, 1988. The planning for the event started in March, 1984 when Don Swier and David Watson, cochairmen of the Host Planning Committee, presented the MISHE bid to the ASHE Board in Hollywood, Florida. Over the next four years, many hours of hard work by the Host Committee members and others resulted in plans for the Opening Ceremonies, the directory, gifts, spouse hospitality, special events and momentous. In 1987 the group established a booth at the San Diego annual conference to offer information about MISHE and the plans for the next years conference. In addition to the cochairman the committee consisted of Roy Agle, Al Giglotti, Elliott Guttman, Paul Horn, and Richard VanderMolen. Many other members served on subcommittees and helped in many ways in support of the event.

In 1993 the organization had recognized that it had a broadening base of membership throughout healthcare and as a result by a vote at the annual meeting the Society changed the official name to the "Michigan Society of Healthcare Engineering". This more completely reflects the industry make-up to include all of healthcare engineering beyond the hospitals.

In it’s relatively short history MISHE has gone from an idea to an organization that L*E*A*Ds the industry by all definitions of the word. For MISHE the letters of the word have an expanded meaning:

The engineers, architects, facility managers, safety officers, vendors and members of the regulatory agencies all benefit from the existence of MISHE and recognize that they can use the resources of the organization to "Provide Better Patient Care Through Quality Education and Engineering".