President's Message - Joe Taylor, CHFM, FACHE, MHA

Greetings KSHE Members and Friends,

Spring has finally arrived in Kentucky, and boy am I glad. I’ve actually seen blue skies in Owensboro for three days in a row. What we will NOT do in this month’s President’s letter is talk about March madness. Instead – like most others across our nation - we will patiently “WAIT ‘TIL NEXT YEAR!”

Your KSHE Board has had a very active winter. Our Membership VP, Andy Woommavovah, and his directors are working hard to increase the value of your KSHE membership. Membership is now for your entire organization not for only a few individuals. Now, every team member in your organization can be listed under your master account and have access to all the benefits once reserved for only leadership, and at a much lower cost. Some of the benefits include:

• Six (or more) free lunch & learn type webex’s
• Annual scholarships
• Top-notch national Codes & Standards speakers
• Access to free energy monitoring and energy reduction consulting services
• Editable documents to assist your organization in its journey toward improved patient safety
• Annual Healthcare Coalition Conference
• Local sponsorship of the ASHE Certified Healthcare Facilities Manager (CHFM) class and examination
• more coming

Charles Haskins is the Board Liaison to our Associate/Vendor members. Charles is in the process of putting together a larger associate member advisory panel to assist the KSHE board as we move to also increase the value of being an Associate Member. If you have any interest in being a part of this advisory panel, you can reach out to Charles by emailing info@kshe.org. For more information about membership, visit the website at www.kshe.org/membership

Earlier in this message, I mentioned one of the benefits of membership being access to free energy monitoring and energy reduction consulting services. This is HUGE!

In our worlds, patients must be our top priority. But it takes careful administration of facilities and sound management of finances to ensure the resources necessary for outstanding patient care. Energy conservation can unlock new revenue for your organization to spend on focused clinical initiatives that directly affect patient care and sustain the environment of care. As the KSHE Co-Sustainability Liaisons, Spencer Hammond and Christy Fetsch are resources to help your organization drive energy reduction, generate savings, and raise awareness about how energy efficiency can aid each facility no matter its size or age. Creating a focus on energy reduction at Owensboro Health Regional Hospital over the last four years has improved employee morale and engagement while resulting in over $1.4 million dollars in savings. The financial gains resulted from reducing energy consumption by over 20%.

Reach out to Spencer and Christy by emailing info@kshe.org or visiting the KSHE website at https://kshe.org/page/energy_derby

Finally, I just want to thank you for all your contributions to our chapter and for making Kentucky a GREAT place to receive high quality, safe patient care. Your KSHE chapter is one of fewer than 20 Platinum Elite chapters in the nation, and for that you should be very proud.

Please enjoy this month’s newsletter. Your questions and comments are always appreciated.

Joe Taylor, CHFM, FACHE, MHA

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