In the Spotlight: Plant Operations and Facilities Engineering

Having electricity, running water and heating or cooling is vital to all jobs at Beacon. Operating and maintaining all of these systems—and much more—requires dedicated associates working together as a team 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays.

At Elkhart General Hospital and Memorial Hospital, you’ll find such individuals who help ensure that patient care can be carried out in a world-class way. Their scope of responsibilities is vast: A small sampling includes plumbing, electrical, ventilation, fire detection and alarm systems, medical gas and air systems and repairs to walls, ceilings and floors in facilities totaling over 3 million square feet. The teams are led by Dave Furlong, Director of Plant Operations Maintenance at Elkhart General, and Tom Jordan, Director of Facilities Services, Memorial.

“In all of my years of hospital administration I have never seen a more dedicated, hard working, efficient and friendly group of Plant Operations staff,” says Greg Losasso, President of Elkhart General Hospital. “The facilities at Elkhart General are incredible despite the age of the plant and that is due in large part to the work and expertise of these fine people. They make our environment so much better for patients, families and staff. What a great department!”

And when the chips are down, like during the multiday power outage at Memorial in May, these are the teams you can always count on.

“Our team goes above and beyond to make sure that patients, their families and our associates are safe and comfortable in our facilities every day, ” says Tom Jordan, Director, Facilities Services, Memorial. “The Facilities and Engineering team at Memorial is an integral part of the care we provide,” says Diana Custer, Vice President of Operations at Memorial. “Our team provided amazing support and leadership during the power outage, and without them we would not have been able to provide the care needed to our patients in a very safe environment. This is the level of support and professionalism we continue to experience from our Facilities and Engineering team, and I am very honored to work with such a great group of individuals.”

National Health Care Facilities and Engineering Week was October 19 – 25.

By the Numbers – Amazing Stats About Our Facilities
• At Elkhart General Hospital, Plant Operations Maintenance is responsible for the upkeep of 1.5 million square feet of space.
• Including Memorial Hospital, Epworth Hospital, three parking garages and four additional buildings, Memorial Facilities Engineering keeps 1.8 million square feet of space humming along.
• At Elkhart General, seven emergency generators can produce 5,225 kilowatts, enough to power about 2,100 homes.
• If you took out all the fluorescent light tubes at Memorial and set them end-to-end, you’d reach a length of about 1,600 football fields

Memorial Hospital Facilities Engineering
Greg Aldrich
Jim Connors
Tim Figg
Albert Gabaree
Ryan Hans
Garry Hartman
Greg Horvath
Brandon Hurt, Project SEARCH intern
Tom Jordan
Mike Layman
Ken Lockwood
Darrius Mack, Project SEARCH intern
Ed McFadden
Cheri McLaughlin
John Oudes
Steve Pletcher
Bob Rhodes
Guy Riggs
Mike Rogers
Don Sappington
Joel Schultz
Perry Shank
John Smead
Scott Smith
Bill Stutzman
John Tomaszewski
Jeff Toner
Sam Wells
Heath Wright

Elkhart General Hospital Plant Operations Maintenance
Floyd Argue
Steve Catalino
Mark Christian
Bob Clarke
Forrest Collins
Dave Earnhart
Tom Egendoerfer
Mike Ferraro
Tim Ferrebee
Steve Foster
Cheryl Fry
Dave Furlong
Ron Garberick
Al Hartman
Bob Hostetler
Gary Johnson
Tom Johnson
Dirk Kunst
Paul Maust
Jeff McNeill
Cory Patrick
Bob Radford
Mason Straw
Jenny Tighe
Mark Trotter