| Andrew has been working in health care facilities since 2019. He is active in his local ASHE Chapter, Gulf Coast Hospital Engineers (part of the Alabama Society of Healthcare Engineers) and is currently serving as the secretary/treasurer. Andrew is also a member of the ASHE Young Professionals/New to the Field Task Force. What do you wish you knew when you were just starting out in the health care field? Andrew: When I started off early on as an environment of care program manager, I wish I had the resources to learn all of The Joint Commission standards and other codes and standards. There are plenty of resources out there, but oftentimes it is difficult when starting fresh on where to actually find the resources. I also wish I had the resources come up much early on for the CHFM and CHSP certifications. Tell us about your journey into the facilities management field. How did you get here? Where did you start? What was your degree/training in? Andrew: I started out in health care in the dialysis industry as a biomedical technician — working in dialysis for about seven years. Then, I made the transition to biomedical engineering at a local academic medical center and worked as a biomedical technician in the hospital industry for five years. I went back to college while I was working as a biomedical technician and graduated with my bachelor’s degree in health care management. In April 2019, I decided to make a change and applied for an environment of care program manager job in our facilities Management department. Our Biomedical Engineering department at the time was under Facilities, so I kind of knew what this role was, but I didn’t know a whole lot about it. I was given the opportunity and worked as an environment of care program manager for about a year. There have been a lot of retirements in the Facilities Management department and our Safety program, as we all know well in this industry. My position was combined into the safety officer position, and that’s when I became the safety officer for this academic medical center. Now, a few years later, I am the safety officer for the academic medical center and our sister children’s hospital. I am so glad I took a chance and made a change from biomedical engineering to facilities management and safety, a field I really love. |
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