Chapter Reports

The second wave of COVID-19 has brought drastic changes to our lives. As the number of positive cases and hospitalizations continued to increase, the government had no choice but to implement never seen restrictions, including a curfew and the closure of non-essential services and stores.

With the arrival of spring, efforts will be concentrated on vaccination. Many organizations are running against the clock to ensure our population receives their dose of the vaccine. This is a very critical part of our journey and a chance to break the chain of virus transmission. On behalf of the Quebec chapter, I would like to thank everyone who has been working tirelessly to fight the virus.

I had the opportunity to participate virtually in the 2020 International Federation of Healthcare Engineering Congress. It was nourishing to see how different healthcare systems around the world are dealing with similar problems.

Involvement in a network like CHES is an advantage for every healthcare facility manager. It connects you with others to discuss issues related to hospital operations. This year, our energy as a society will be devoted to improving our communications with members and sensibilizing them to the advantages of being a member. The increase in virtual meetings gives us a chance to reach any member regardless of distance.

—Mohamed Merheb, Quebec chapter chair La deuxième vague de COVID-19 a malheureusement bouleversé nos vies. Le nombre de cas positifs et d’hospitalisations continuant à augmenter, le gouvernement n’a pas eu d’autre choix que de mettre en œuvre des restrictions jamais vues, notamment un couvre-feu et la fermeture de services et de commerces non essentiels.

Avec l’arrivée du printemps, les efforts seront concentrés sur la vaccination. De nombreuses organisations travaillent contre la montre pour s’assurer que notre population reçoive sa dose de vaccin. C’est une partie très importante de notre voyage et une chance de briser la chaîne de transmission du virus. Au nom de la section Québec, je tiens à remercier tous ceux qui ont travaillé sans relâche pour lutter contre le virus.

J’ai eu l’occasion de participer virtuellement au congrès 2020 de l’International Federation of Healthcare Engineering. Il était instructif de voir comment les différents systèmes de santé dans le monde traitent des problèmes similaires.

L’implication dans un réseau comme le CHES est un avantage pour tout responsable d’établissement de santé. Il vous met en contact avec d’autres personnes pour discuter de questions liées au fonctionnement de l’hôpital. Cette année, notre énergie en tant que société sera consacrée à améliorer nos communications avec les membres et à les sensibiliser aux avantages de l’adhésion. Le recours accru aux réunions virtuelles nous donne la possibilité d’atteindre n’importe quel membre, quelle que soit la distance.

—Mohamed Merheb, chef du conseil d'administration du Québec

BRITISH COLUMBIA CHAPTER

Despite vaccinations being rolled out, there are still COVID challenges that we need to overcome before we will have the opportunity to meet again as a CHES family. With orders still in place limiting gatherings, the planning committee has decided to hold a week of webinars that will feature a keynote presentation, educational sessions and our annual general meeting. The theme is, The Physical Environment: Creating Patient-focused Facilities. Further details will be provided soon.

A note of appreciation to all CHES COVID panel members that have given their time to share experiences and trials to date of their COVID learnings and victories. The webinar series continues to be extremely educational and informative, affirming that we as healthcare staff and members of CHES are all facing the same challenges. I encourage you to visit the CHES website to sign up for the webinars.

With your continued support, the B.C. chapter has remained strong, both from a financial standpoint and membership numbers. Looking ahead, 2022 is an election year for the chapter executive. If interested in serving on the CHES B.C. board or helping out with committee work, please reach out to any member of the current executive team.

—Norbert Fischer, British Columbia chapter chair

ALBERTA CHAPTER

We were given a reprieve from the cold weather from December to early February, and then the polar vortex arrived. This was supposed to be the year we avoided the extreme cold temperatures! (We think that every year.)

The Alberta chapter is usually busy preparing for our annual conference; however, due to the pandemic, we have decided to defer the event until spring 2022. While it is disappointing for members and vendors who support CHES, next year’s event will be a special time to reconnect and re-energize.

Taking advantage of this temporary ‘lull’ in activity, we are currently soliciting feedback from members to identify further opportunities for CHES Alberta to help support them in their daily work. We have also started to ‘explore’ what it means to be a CHES member, how we can be inclusive of other groups, such as clinical engineering, capital projects and property management, and what value we can offer them as an organization.

Another area of opportunity that is drawing interest is leadership development. This can only make us better and provide something outside of the purely technical and engineering environment that has become so familiar. We want to develop leaders, so let’s do that.

—Mike Linn, Alberta chapter vice-chair

After a wet, mild winter, spring is soon to arrive in the Maritimes. Last year’s fall education day in Truro, N.S., had to be postponed due to COVID-19. The committee is investigating educational options for 2021-2022, including an education day in fall 2021, and the Maritime chapter conference in spring 2022.

The chapter executive committee will remain in place until the next annual general meeting.

CHES Maritime is able to balance its books while offering several financial incentives to its members in the way of student bursaries, contributions to Canadian Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CCHFM) exam fees, webinars, the fall education day and other rebates.

—Helen Comeau, Maritime chapter chair

ONTARIO CHAPTER

With the uncertainty of an early return to normalcy, the Ontario chapter executive has made the very difficult decision to cancel/ postpone all scheduled in-person events for 2021. This includes our chapter conference. There was some thought to reschedule to fall; however, it’s too risky to plan a large event this year. Should things change, we hope to be in a position to offer something to members like an education day. Cancelling our conference in consecutive years not only affects member benefits but also our bottom line. Thankfully, we are in good financial standing to weather the storm.

Given this change, the chapter’s next in-person conference will be held in Toronto, Sept. 16-21, 2022, when we host the CHES National Conference in tandem with the International Federation of Healthcare Engineering Congress. Planning has accelerated for this event. Numerous subcommittees are in place, including the program committee, which held its first meeting in December, with representatives from across Canada, the U.S., Japan, Australia and the U.K. Planning meetings around different Canadian time zones is already a difficult task, so you can imagine having to do so on a global scale.

As for the pandemic, at the risk of repeating myself, I value now more than ever being a part of CHES. To have the opportunity to share challenges and successes with each other through this unprecedented time exemplifies the benefit of membership.

Despite being somewhat apprehensive about vaccinations in the past, I received my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in January, and my perspective has since changed. There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully with the vaccine rollout to the general public, we'll have the opportunity to see each other sooner rather than later.

—Jim McArthur, Ontario chapter chair

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