News of the CRHEA | Columbia Region Healthcare Engineers Association | Encouraging and assisting members in developing their knowledge and competence in the field of healthcare and engineering management.

CRHEA News & Issues

Toy Collection for Operation Homefront
[December 2019]

Thank you so much again for your generous donation of toys to support military families in Washington. We held our toy distribution event in Oak Harbor where we served over 100 military children! View pictures from the event where you can see how delighted the military kids we served were with the toys you selected!

Watch the On-Demand Webcast: "Emergency Preparedness: Critical Planning for Healthcare Facilities"
[December 12, 2017]

When an emergency strikes and lives are at stake, communities rely on healthcare providers. In every stage of an emergency—from preparing and responding, to mitigating damage and recovering—have you considered whether your hospital or facility prepared to handle an emergency itself?

Click here for the webcast. The webinar includes: Why an all-hazards approach is required for safety and compliance, 7 critical functions of a healthcare facility, How to use technology and mobile apps to better manage healthcare compliance audits and post-audit tasks, 2017 industry insights and survey results

From ARC.

Message from Jim Spinelli, 2017-2018 President, CRHEA
[August 1, 2017]
Greetings, CRHEA!

Thank all of you for your membership in the Columbia Region chapter of OSHE. We continue to grow and are proud of the value offered to all of our members provided by promoting an environment of personal and professional growth. And we always seem to have a little fun along the way as well.

Please visit http://www.crhea.org/board.htm for an introduction to your CRHEA board of directors for this year. Your Board has been active over this summer planning the educational and social calendar of events for the upcoming 2017-2018 monthly membership meetings.

ALL meetings will be held at:
OHSU Collaborative Life Sciences Building (CLSB)
2730 SW Moody Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97201
> Directions

We are pleased to announce the dates for these monthly membership meetings continuing as before on the third Thursday of September through April at 18:00 (except for September at 16:30), specifically:

September 21 (meeting starts at 18:30)
October 20th (no meeting due to WSHE Spokane)
November 16
December 14 (tentative)
January 18
February 15
March 15
April 19

Please save all of these dates in your calendar now. We will share information about locations and educational presentations as these become finalized.

We look forward to another exciting year of education and socializing with our peers and partners and of course, the food is always good. Your continuing engagement guarantees our success.

Sincerely,
Jim Spinelli, 2017 – 2018 President, CRHEA
> Leadership page

Your Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Code Involving Legionella Risk Management
[October 13, 2014]
ASHRAE Releases Legionellosis Standard for Fourth Public Review Draft
ATLANTA - A fourth version of ASHRAE's proposed legionellosis standard is open for public comment until November 10, 2014.

Standard 188P, Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems, currently under development, will establish minimum legionellosis risk management requirements for building water systems. The standard is intended for use by building owners and managers and those involved in the design, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance and service of centralized building water systems and components.
The draft of the document and instructions on submitting comments can be found at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews
The proposed standard will be available for access until Nov. 10, 2014.

Changes to the proposed standard since its last public review in January 2013 include:
- Alignment of the document with the revised title, purpose and scope.
- Removal of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) terminology; some of the principles of the - HACCP process are consistent with the process utilized in the document.
- Inclusion of a normative appendix for health care facilities meeting specific requirements that provides an alternate compliance path that is more stringent than for other facilities.
- More emphasis on requirements for design, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance and service.

Tom Watson, chair of the Standard 188P committee, notes that the standard contains both normative sections and appendices that specify what is required to comply. It also contains informative appendices and references as guidance about how to do things that may be necessary for a given building water system.

"Building water systems vary substantially in their design and their capability for transmission of Legionella," Watson said. "Scientific evidence is either lacking or inconclusive in certain aspects of Legionella control. The informative guidance is included to provide suggestions, recommendations and references."

To learn more about actions regarding ASHRAE standards, visit www.ashrae.org/listserv. There, ASHRAE provides subscriptions to a variety of listserves, including one for Standard 188P, that enable interested parties to stay up to date with the latest news, publication offerings, and various other Society activities.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment. The Society and its more than 50,000 members worldwide focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, refrigeration and sustainability. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow's built environment today.
> More Information on the ASHRAE News page

ASHE Awards Rick McGuffey at Annual Conference
[September 2014]
Congratulations to Rick McGuffey, Director of Facility Management at Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls, and our Immediate Past President of OSHE. Rick was presented the ASHE District 10 Emerging Regional Leader Award. This award recognizes professional for their contributions to the fields of healthcare engineering and facilities management; planning, design and construction; safety; clinical and biomedical engineering and technical management. Great work, Rick!

Advocacy alert: Changes to Power Strip Use, Plans for Improvement
[June 5, 2014]
ASHE members should be aware of several important compliance changes affecting hospitals and other health facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is significantly restricting the use of power strips in patient care areas effective immediately. Also, the Joint Commission is requiring hospitals to address overdue plans for improvement (PFIs) by July 1, 2014.

Joint Commission Department of Engineering Director George Mills states that CMS is not allowing relocatable power taps, referred to as RPTs or power strips, to be used with medical equipment in patient care areas—effective immediately. That includes operating rooms, patient rooms, and areas for recovery, exams, and diagnostic procedures. Mills reports that many facility professionals are frustrated by the change, arguing that restrictions on power strips would lead to tripping hazards from long extension cords stretching across rooms.