The Plant Engineering department is responsible for the planning, design, maintenance, and operations of the Sycamore campus, which includes the Sycamore Glen Health Center, Sycamore Primary Care, and the ASB. While this is a great responsibility, they all take enormous pride in delivering quality service to make our hospital run smoothly and look beautiful. The staff applies their craft with traditional tools, ingenuity, and some “elbow grease” along with cutting-edge technology to make our campuses functional, safe, and attractive.
In conversation with Mark Gibson, I asked him to tell us about the Plant Engineering and Grounds departments of Sycamore. It appears that this group likes to work hard and have some fun too. Thanks to their hard work, the employees and our community get all the advantages of this beautiful and highly functional campus.
How many employees work in your department? Plant Engineering has 11 guys that are assigned to the Sycamore group, plus five contracted employees for grounds.
What are some of the different roles you have in your department? HVAC, electric, electronic plumbing, mechanics, carpentry, and gardening
What are some of your significant achievements? We completed the generator project, replaced the AHU-2, and replaced the unit 2 fan coils.
What are your 2019 goals? Replace AHU-5 servers and sterile processing in the OR and more OR 7 and 8 to AHU-5.
What are some interesting facts about your department? Terry has worked at Kettering Health Network for 28 years. Three Plant Engineering employees have a twin sibling (Bruce, Terry, and Jerry). Terry’s twin brother’s name is Jerry, and Jerry’s twin sister’s name is Teri. How coincidental is that? Four were in the service (Colson, Jerry, Blake, and Mark). There is one double blue star family (Mark’s two oldest sons, one in Qatar and one in Okinawa). One moved over 6,000 miles to work in Plant Engineering (Hanna). The department has 20 children, 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren total. The department has offered 122 years of service.
What is something we may not know about your department? There are 22,000 doors at Sycamore, 100 acres mowed, and 2,300 air filters.
Do you have a nickname or motto? We keep the hospital running.
Meet Mark Gibson, Facilities Manager
Favorite quote: “Learn it right, and you’ll do it right the rest of your life. Learn it wrong, and spend the rest of your life trying to get it right.” -Unknown
How long have you been with Sycamore or the network? 16 years.
What is your favorite part of the job? Turning over brand new areas.
When you don’t work, what do you like to do for fun? I volunteer for the fire department where I live. I’m the assistant chief.
Who are the co-workers who make you laugh? Not my group. They are way too serious for any type of pranks. (They are all clowns.)
What is something we may not know about your employees? Bruce is the cut and paste prankster. Daniel is the ‘it wasn’t me’ prankster. Jake is my stealth prankster. Terry is “I’m just getting ready to do that, boss.”
Coming up next month: The department spotlight will be on the Emergency Department.