Michigan Society for Healthcare Engineering

HISTORY 1979 – 2000

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 tow representatives to serve as the first MISHE Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors consisted of Trustees: Barnard Dissteirath, Karl Muehlfeld, Gene Roelofs, Ed Schneider, Ira Spieker and Michigan Hospital Association Codes and Standards Department Liaison, Allen Schoolcraft. The executive officers were: David Watson-President, Bill Parcells-President Elect, and 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 the committee through 1990. He was followed by Roy Agle 1991-1994, and Dick Gudkese 1994-2001.

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, and Pier-George Zanoni 1995 to present.

Annual Meeting: This committee is charged with the responsibility of the planning and presentation of the annual MISHE conference 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 of 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. In 1990 Larry LeForge became committee chairman and served in that capacity through 1993. He was followed by Lynn Palaszeski 1994-1995, Ron Borke 1995-1997, Ed Kaniewski 1998-1999, and Frank Trupiano 2000-2001.

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 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 1999, and Pier-George Zanoni 2000-2001.

Education Committee: In 1991 the formal reporting of the education committee began with the development of the Mechanic Education and Certification for Healthcare (MECH) 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. 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 1993-1997, and Tom Theoret 1998 – present.

Two new standing committees were added to the bylaws in 1998, the MECH Committee and the Scholarship Committee. After investing volunteer time and capital amounting to more the $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 a number of mechanics 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 Hohman as the Director of the MECH program. John’s role has since been expended 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 a paid State Director directly reporting to the MISHE Board of Directors.

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

In 1997 after action by the board, Bob McCurdy and Chip Riddle developed the President’s Scholarship award consisting of tow $1,000.00 grants that were awarded at the 1997 annual conference. Plans are to continue providing this State scholarship with the help from MECH revenues, with plans for eventual development of separate scholarship funded by MECH to include all the Charter Member States. Also in 1997, the UP chapter of MISHE became active again and elected Brett Young from Marquette General Hospital as their first President/Secretary/Treasurer.

In 1998 Larry LeForge became MISHE’s first Engineer of the Year. Receiving this award at our annual meeting, Larry was honored for his many years of dedication, sincere commitment to MISHE, and in particular for his success in the development and ongoing expansion of the MECH program. Also during 1998, MISHE applied for and was granted tax exempt status by the IRS as a 401 (c)(6) organization. Accordingly, MISHE filed tax form 990 and 990 (t).

The financial support for the Society has come from membership dues, 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.

In 1999, Richard Gudkese was appointed to the Michigan Fire Safety Board serving as the representative for healthcare. Pier-George Zanoni, longtime Michigan Hospital Association liaison for MISHE, left the MHA, but continued to serve as MISHE treasurer, ASHE environmental committee member, and as a member of the JCAHO Committee on Healthcare Safety.

The year 2000 started out with a successful weathering of the Y2K New Year and ending with a very enjoyable and educational annual meeting at The Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant. Wayne Dries, Dick Gudkese, Larry LeForge and Jon P. O’Malley, became the first certified healthcare engineers from Michigan in the ASHE Healthcare Facility Manager certification program.

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, co-chairmen 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 mementos. In 1987 the group established a both at the San Diego annual conference to offer information about MISHE and the plans for the next year’s conference. In addition to the co-chairman 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 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 for Healthcare Engineering”. This more completely reflects the industry make-up to include all of healthcare engineering beyond the hospitals.

In its 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:

LEADERSHIP: by example and by deeds, the members who have participated in the development, organization, and implementation of MISHE programs past and present represent the industries finest minds in action.

EDUCATION: in the development of programs that have the ability to reach the line and entry personnel through the MECH program, meetings and seminars, education library, as well as the MECH scholarship which reaches out to the Healthcare Engineers of the future.

ADAPTABILITY: by providing the means for Healthcare Engineers to network through District meetings and seminars where new technologies can be investigated.

DILIGENCE: through the ongoing observation of the regulatory environment by the entire membership who participates in the shaping and implementation of codes and standards by attendance at local seminars and through input to the codes and standards process.

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”.