What is your role at Medxcel?
As a Powerplant Operator, I oversee numerous utilities, including electrical, plumbing, pneumatic system, HVAC, boilers, chilling, heating, steam… I think I’ve counted 27 different utilities we oversee. It’s a great responsibility, but rewarding when you see everything working properly, everyone working together as a team, ensuring we’re doing all the preventive maintenance within our schedule.
Describe your team and how you work together.
As you know, equipment in a healthcare facility runs all the time. When something breaks down, we work together to get it back in normal operation. It’s nice to have a lot of redundancy, so if one asset goes down, we have a backup while repairing the defective equipment. We have a great team here; we all get along and support one another. Everyone benefits from each other’s strengths, so if someone’s weak in one area, we work together to build that into a strength. It’s a great team effort, and we communicate constantly.
We have our team huddles in the morning between shifts and share information with other team members working various shifts. We communicate verbally, in writing, via communication boards — we strive to overcommunicate if we can
Describe the path you took to arrive in your current role.
My dad was a very handy man, so my interest in trade skills began early on. I love woodworking, the mechanics side of it, so I joined the army back in ’78 and was there for 11 years as a construction engineer. In that role, I did a lot of construction, carpentry, electrical plumbing, all over the world.
Next, I went into maintenance at a long-term care facility for seniors and loved it. I’m mindful that we’re in the people business: the equipment we take care of serves real people. I got hired at Medxcel part-time and did both jobs for a while.
Eventually, a lead position became available with Medxcel and I went for it. I’ve been here for 28 years.
I’m a long-term individual when it comes to employment, so my current role is my third job in my entire career. There’s so much variety in the work we do; it’s never boring.
Can you speak to the training and development opportunities that Medxcel offers?
Through the years we’ve done multiple trainings, including asbestos, lockout tagout, environment boiler, and more. Medxcel brings in professionals to train us, which is awesome. It’s great to be able to build and refresh our skills.
How would you describe the culture at Medxcel?
Team building and support is key, because we’re only as strong as the weakest link. There’s also a big emphasis on training. In my position I’m the main trainer, so I spend a lot of time with new people. We go through various systems, have a lot of dialogue and mentoring to ensure they’re proficient, effective, and satisfied in their role — and the customers we serve are satisfied too.
How does your work, or the work of your team, impact patient care?
The biggest part of our job is life safety, which impacts not just the patient but also the visitors, staff, and vendors who enter our facilities. We make sure doors are latching properly, fire alarms and extinguishers work properly, sprinklers have no leaks, for example. We support clinicians, ensuring they have all they need to care for patients, like ensuring med vac oxygen, nitrous oxide, nitrogen, things like that are readily available and fully operational. Everything we do impacts the people who come in and out of our buildings.
What would you say to someone who asks you if you'd recommend working at Medxcel?
I’d say there are great opportunities here to learn different types of maintenance work. If you’re motivated, willing to learn and work, and want to grow professionally, this is the place to be, because there’s a lot of support and room to grow. When I train new people, I tell them to reflect on where they started and how much knowledge they will have gained when they reach their one-year anniversary. I tell them, “You’ll be amazed!”