Celebrating National Healthcare Facilities and Engineering Week

If you're a patient in a hospital, there are obviously clinical staff members that you will see regularly, from a physician to a technician. But this week we're celebrating the unsung heroes of LifeBridge Health: the dedicated Maintenance and Engineering staff.

They're what allow our hospitals to have power and running water, not to mention heat, air conditioning and a safe environment. The staff is occasionally tested in a major way, such as during the Baltimore Snowpocalypse of 2010.

"We take great pride in our work and just like the postman, neither rain, snow, heat or cold stop us from fulling our mission," says Odell Hall, director of facilities at Northwest Hospital."Our job is to help employees do their jobs!"

At Northwest, facilities staff handles an average of 1,500 service calls per month, on top of the preventive maintenance work performed each month. During last winter's snow, the staff removed 38 tons of snow, Hall says.

This year's theme for the week is "Quality Work For Quality Healthcare Environments." National Healthcare Facilities and Engineering Week is observed annually during the fourth week of October. It is sponsored by the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association (AHA).

Thank you to all members of the facilities, maintenance and engineering staff! If you are interested in working in the maintenance department, you can see open listings at LifeJobs.