Spring 2008 Letter from the President to the Membership

Fellow Members,

Your WSSHE officers are looking forward to seeing you at the April 24 and 25 WSSHE Semi Annual in Chelan. I understand the rooms may are already sold out at Campbell’s. You had better start looking for lodging. Advanced Electrical Testing and our old friends at Wood Harbinger are going to present a great program. Bruce Alward has organized this for us and I am grateful.

I had the pleasure of attending an Eastern Chapter Meeting, presided over by Chapter Pres Brad Jones, in Moses Lake on Friday March 14. There was a very informative presentation by Ken Henschel of Extra Effort Consulting out of Tigard Oregon. He is a member of OSHE and promises to join WSSHE. The presentation was primarily about the cost advantages of LED lighting. Hopefully Ken will be at Wenatchee to share his ideas.

The SW Chapter, presided over by Gregg Bergstrom, just yesterday had their meeting and enjoyed an informative presentation by Bob Nichols of Architectural Elevator. The subject was Elevator Contracts. Evidently Bob has worked with Steve Grose our Past WSSHE President. Together they have developed many ideas on contracts that they are willing to share with us.

Our Advocacy Team has been hot on the trail of some big issues in Olympia. They were in attendance at the Governors signing of the issue regarding DOH surveys. Testifying and attending were Geoff Glass from Providence in Olympia, Steve Grose from Virginia Mason in Seattle, Mike Kelly from Sacred Heart in Spokane and Mike Chitwood from Harrison in Bremerton. Additionally, the semiprivate room issue is still out there as well a one that snuck up on us. The one that snuck up was an issue of retroactive requirements for pharmacy ventilation etc. The Advocacy Team will report in more detail at our Semi Annual in Chelan. One more reason to be on the shores of Lake Chelan in the springtime.

Do not forget our WSSHE Annual this year on September 17 through 19. We’ll be meeting in Wenatchee and the theme will be WSSHE Rocks II. Tim Heidlebaugh, the great host he is, already has plans on the drawing board. We are looking forward to the great educational opportunities, being organized by Geoff Glass and his Annual Educational Planning Committee.

Sincerely,

Tom Pitts
President, Washington State Society for Healthcare Engineering