Accepting and Acceptance – #259a (2000)

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.  Gary reviewing his staff of 13,  the housekeeping department exceedingly  responsive, never a problem,  Mary Speiss,  Kamala Prasad and Suarjeni Prasad always fulfilling responsibilities with an outstanding work ethic.   The custodial crew responding applicable,  not always the case in the laundry, discovering without a doubt the laundry was by far the most demanding and the worst assignment,  not only in his department but in the facility.  The starting wage paying the least and the performance level very demanding with two shifts,  the first starting at 5:00 a.m. and ending at 1:30 p.m., the second beginning at 3:30, ending at midnight, a turnover of personnel was inevitable.   The two-hour pause between the two shifts causing an interruption with the necessary output flow and  service.

.  Gary remedying this by fulfilling the two-hour laundry needs himself, sorting the barrels of residents clothes,  sheets,  towel and incontinent pads,  keeping the washers and dryers fulfilling their purpose.   On occasion members of the housekeeping staff would help during their break time,  including  Administrator Brad Kikuta stopping by to fold sheets, towels and pads from the four dryers that continued  their never-ending cycles.  The only bright note in laundry Services was Louise Bruns, able to gathered unmarked residences personal apparel, placing items on hangers and delivering them to the correct dresser drawer and closets in each room.  Louise a wondrous person,  the only person able to fulfill this position without difficulty,  her memory of the residence personal clothing was beyond expectation.

.  Gary having never experienced a utility co-generation system.  Mounted in a covered mechanical systems area at the rear of the facility was a Chevrolet natural gas powered 350 cubic inch V8 engine, which operated 24 hours a day, coupled to a generator providing 110 volt AC to the building grid, and supplied heated water to the fan coil units that heated the facility rooms, and in the summer,  supplied the heated water to four heat absorption air conditioning units with their 16 foot high motor cooling towers.  Completing the Physical Plant equipment was a 50 KW Onan diesel standby generator supplying electricity for selective circuits during a power failure.  Gary discovering  the fire-alarm,  smoke detectors and sprinkler system a mirror of his past experience.

.  Nick Barton, the corporation’s computer consultant approached Gary about Dietary Supervisors, Saushi Singh’s kitchen office stand alone computer being in need of a cabled online presence with the main server in the conference room.   Gary after surveying the situation,  realizing the difficulty, the crawl space traversing above the kitchen, break room, business office, plus having to drill thru two fire walls before entering the conference room crawlspace.  After some thought, Gary remembering a similar circumstance when installing  Kiowa Hospital’s  ER ambulance; and front door entrance cameras, having run the ER cable down the side of the building, entering above the lobby and into the nurses station.  This situation was no different,  run the cable out of the kitchen  down the building and back into the conference room.   Gary realizing it was somewhat unorthodox,  but the finished results worked.

.  Healthcare Management and Colony Parks goal,  was now focused on receiving a  Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization,   JCAHO  certification.   Gary being introduced to Susan,  a consultant hired by Healthcare Management, a previous employee of the Joint Commission.   The consultant ceding Gary a six-inch thick  binder containing the Jaycoe seven directories for safety management,  each directory requiring written facility policies and procedural protocol.   The thick binder contained the 7  stipulated programs for safety management.   Safety, Medical Equipment,  Emergency Preparedness,  Utilities,  Security,  Fire Safety,  and Hazardous Material,  Gary’s responsibility being to address each individual program with written management policies and procedure’s appreciable to Colony Park .  The bulk of the JCAHO four  inch tabbed binder alone made for apprehension, one could foresee it unmanageable with the addition of the Colony Park policy and procedural documentation.  Gary having a simple but innovating  remedy,  separating the directories into seven individual smaller binders,  addressing each management plan separately.  Spending hours on the computer and many evening hours at home addressing  JCAHO requirements.

.  The time of reckoning finally arriving,  the department supervisors introduced to an elderly JCAHO surveyor at a special morning department head meeting,  giving notice that if all went well he should conclude his survey in three days.  Environmental Services was last to meet with the  representative, Gary entering the conference room discovering  Brad was in attendance.   Gary no longer having a single enlarged binder of the JCAHO  management plans, spreading  seven  labeled individual binders on the table, each binder addressing a management plans.  The representative taken aback,  asking for an explanation,  Gary explaining the seven  plans would be better  addressed individually than as group, it would provide a more focused complaisant presentation.   The JCAHO representative seemed impressed,   giving Gary an assurance,  he had done well.

.  The final meeting,  the JCAO representative announcing to the department supervisors, Colony Park had qualified for certification.  Then something unexpected, the surveyor giving a special recognition to Gary,  asking the department supervisors to applaud him, that in his twenty years of certifying facilities,  Gary was the first to pass the seven safety management plans without a deficiency.  Gary acknowledging his recognition from his professional co workers,  and inwardly, the cultural diversity of its makeup,  an existence and relationship he had never experienced before.

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