Chapter 6 - A whole new world of understanding

Chapter 6

A whole new world of understanding

Here I am, working for a Hospital in a small community, basically trying to figure out just what my job really is. In a very short amount of time, I found out that the hospital had 5 maintenance managers over the last 18 months. What was really wrong here?
I decided to find out why and found that the answer was ridiculously simple. The Administrator was just about 62 years old and there was a movement among some of the board members to remove him from his position. It would be done in a quiet way that was not supposed to hurt his feelings, but yet to get the message across that he was way behind the times and needed to be replaced.

He was very strong on being able to run the physical plant and he believed that no one could come in and just take over and do it. So, every one that was hired, he undermined and made life very uncomfortable for them so they would quit. I found out later, he actually paid people to come to his office and tattle on me and others. His way of doing that was to give them a raise of 10 cents an hour every time they had something of importance to share with him.

I soon learned how to create illusions that were taken to him and upon his reactions he was looking worse and worse every time. His ability was being questioned almost every day. I simply did to him what he did to so many others and he finally resigned. He never did find out how the whole thing was done to him. During the short time that I knew him, I came to really dislike him. He was a very devious and vicious man.
Another man was hired to be the Administrator and I got along very well with him until he moved on to a better job.

During the early years of my tenure with the Hospital, there was a fire created by a welder in the construction area. The fire quickly spread to the basement of the Hospital. I can recall, going into the immediate area of the fire and I suddenly couldn’t breathe, the smoke was so thick.

After the fire was put out, by the local volunteer fire company, there were many meetings with Hospital Administration and the Board as to how we were going to get the Hospital back in operation. The best estimate made by professionals hired to review damage and follow through with clean-up and restoration was 45 to 90 days.

I had some experience with that type of restoration so I made a presentation to the board that I could do it in 30 days or less. There was one provision, and that was to stay out of my way and let me do it, also the insurance companies had to agree to finance it. I had told the Board and Administration that the manpower already existed in the form of employees that would normally be out of work. Get the unions to agree to allow their employees to work for me during that restoration period and I can do it.

It was agreed by all to give me Carte’ Blanch and allow me to get us up and running. To make a long story short, we had the Hospital operational in 14 days, working 24/7, as the same employees had worked the shifts before. It was a period that people made friends with others they never knew existed before as they all had the same goal.
Again, this was another time, I was in the right place at the right time, and had the opportunity to prove myself and gain respect with the governing body of the institution.

One of the advantages I had when I was hired, was that I not only reported to the Administrator, but also to the Property Committee of the Board. I could not be fired by the Administrator, unless the Board agreed. That clause remained in my contract until I retired from the Hospital in 1992.

While I was at the hospital, I was responsible for the physical plant, housekeeping, laundry and was the immediate overseer of all the building projects that the hospital had.
That, by itself, gave me awesome authoritative guidelines. I was very careful not to ever abuse them or misuse them. I also came up with some very innovative ideas on how to save money on very large scales. One such idea was to have all the lighting in the hospital parking lots be part of the municipal lighting. The hospital pays a fraction of what it would have cost if they took it on as an operating expense. Big savings!!

I made an arrangement with the PUC in Harrisburg and the local Natural Gas Company to purchase the fuel to run the hospital boilers under a special contract with the state. Over a period of time, this saved millions for the hospital and the community.

I engineered and built the first Heliport in the community on hospital grounds and it still operates today.
During my tenure with the Hospital, I finally did become an Electrical Engineer with the help of an Electrical Engineering firm in Pittsburgh that sponsored me. I was listed in the very prestigious “American Society for Hospital Engineering” for years.

I was involved as an engineering consultant with the 3-Mile Island nuclear meltdown and I feel confident that I contributed to the solutions and clean-up.


This is a list of what I believe to be “Significant Accomplishments".

· Created Preventive Maintenance programs for industry and institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes

· Created a Bio-Medical Department

· Arranged for the hospital to have an uninterruptible primary fuel source (natural Gas) through a contract directly with the P.U.C. at the state level, thus saving the hospital approximately $250,000 per year.

· Created an unusual arrangement with the municipality and the power company where-by the hospital does not have to pay for any of it’s outside lighting, parking, etc;.

· Created a way to process laundry (commercially) to look smell and feel as good as home laundered. In other words, it’s soft, fluffy and extremely white. It’s also less expensive to produce using conventional methods. It will pass all the PH and bacterial tests known to be necessary to provide a top quality product.

· Designed and created a Nuclear Medicine Department in a local hospital without the help of Architects or any other outside agency. It passed the Nuclear Regulatory Agency inspection the first time around.

· Redesigned a new Maternity Suite to fit into an antiquated setting by using creative cosmetic renovation techniques.

· Designed and built a heliport for the hospital, fully licensed and permitted in accordance with the National Bureau of Aviation and the FAA.

· Lastly, and the most important accomplishment was keeping a promise to myself about how to deal with employees. I always treated them with respect and maintained an open door policy. I helped them deal with each other, I helped a couple of them financially, I promoted the most deserving to higher positions. Even today, many years later, when I see them and discuss the “old days” with past employees, it’s a wonderful feeling to have them say, “I wish you were still there, we didn’t know how good we had it, until you left.”
This is to name just a few of the accomplishments in a lifetime.
I have a couple Web-Sites that I promote.
In the process of wanting to create websites and have an indepth understanding of computers, I completed my " A+ Certification" studies to further my capabilities and add to my arsenol of education to repair computers and understand programming.
I took the test and passed it .... now I am a certified IT / CT. (Computer Technician ) I don't bother to tell anyone as I really don't want to be fixing computers for every one. I just wanted to be able to fix mine and maybe help a friend or two now and then.
I did fix one for a co-worker that a local computer repair shop said they couldn't fix.

Who knows, I just might become a millionaire, which happens to be another life’s goal. I am now over 82 years old, and most, if not all of my close friends that I either grew up with or worked with, are gone. I am the only one left. I am making new acquaintances every day, but not really close friends.

One might say, my co-workers are my friends now, however,
My wife still has a respectable circle of friends, and that is good for her.

I have a friend I have never actually met her. She and her family live in Alberta Canada. Someday, I would like to meet her and her family, she has promised me a really big hug. I talk to her every day from my computer. My time is growing shorter and shorter every day and having one true friend is really important to me now.

 I am lucky as I found another best friend close to home to enjoy their company.

As I get older, I sometimes fantasize that I will live until I am 106, so I have at least 20 plus years of creativity to enjoy life and give to humanity. It's strange though, my body is telling me something else and it is not co-operating with my expectations, as I can't do the physical things I used to...... I know I am failing... I just hate to admit it.  Someday I will just be a memory to some people and I hope I am a good one. 

Here is a sad thought, the day I retired from the hospital and was leaving the job site, I had mentioned that there is no need to be upset and that I would make every effort to keep in touch with everyone. The statement given back to me by some one that I had considered to be very close to, said; and I quote “Don’t’ bother, there is nothing you can do for me anymore, you are no longer in a position of power.” That hurt, so much, I have never forgotten it.
I found out later that he was upset because I was retiring and he felt abandoned.

In addition to the previously mentioned things, there were some other things that have happened since I retired.

One is, after I retired, I couldn’t make enough money to sustain our lifestyle. In fact, it got to a point that there was no money at all, except a small retirement check every month.
I was not eligible for Social Security yet and no one would hire me in my profession. It was too easy to hire young people right out of college, cheap, just as long as they had a Sheep Skin.
During this period of time, I invented a machine that would sterilize equipment cold rather than hot. I called it an Auto-Sanitizer. It was going to cost mega-millions to get all the Regulatory Agencies to approve for medical use, so it never really got off the ground, but I did get a patent. I have included a picture of the Patent on the side with my other pictures.

In doing so, it really cleaned out our savings and I lost my home. However, the way the cars were purchased from the dealer, I was able to keep them. If I wouldn’t have had the car, I would not have been able to recover, because, by then, I was selling Life Insurance to make a living and I did that for 9 years with the same car. That was also a stroke of luck..... Or was it ??

I have recovered from Bankruptcy and all the other things that happened to me after I retired and now I have purchased another home complete with mortgage payments...Money is still very tight.

The very last thing that happened, I was taking my wife out to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary on the eve of the anniversary. We were going to an upscale restaurant and upon arriving, I said to my wife that I must go to the men’s room. I thought I had a little attack of diarrhea, but it was pure red blood. I was taken to the hospital in that city and, of course, survived – but, later found out that it was the only trauma center close enough, that could have saved my life and the restaurant was only 1 mile from the hospital. If I would have stayed home that night, I might have died from blood loss and complications.
Again, was that just luck or what ??

Also, there were two times I was diagnosed with cancer, operations were performed to remove the cancer and I didn’t use chemotherapy – WOW, how often does that happen.??

I had mentioned that something mystical seemed to be going on surrounding my life. Well, if you go over my life very carefully, and read it again. I always seemed to be protected from the worst of life’s nasty things that can happen. One of the most unique things is that in all of my working life, I have never been promoted, although I might have been had I stayed with York Division of Borg-Warner.
I learned how to promote myself.

I have reached every goal I have set in front of myself to accomplish and I am now retired from professional life. I had a job at a local Ace Hardware Store and was  terminated because, they said, I was too old to do the job I was originally hired to do.  Basically, I could no longer lift the 80 LB. bags of Sacrete.
However, My son was in another hardware store when he learned of my dismissal and asked them if they might have an opening.  They did, I applied for it and was hired.
Again was this luck or what ???   ( Guardian Angels?? )

I have been layed off again, seasonal as they say.  I was told I would be rehired in the middle of February or beginning of spring.  So, I guess I still have a "JOB".
UPDATE: I was told that the chances of getting re-called are slim to none.

Another UPDATE:  It looks as though my working years are over, so I will have to adjust to being retired.  I don't like being retired, but then I am one of those lucky ones that can retire with reasonable health. 
Within the last couple of years financial problems overwhelmed us due to the lack of employment.  I had no choice but to get a reverse mortgage.  It served it's purpose as it paid off all the credit cards and existing mortgage, so now I can try to retire with dignity..debt free.

I am not a deeply religious man, but I do believe in God, as I am positive there is something out there that has watched over me, all my life, and is still doing so today.
I thank God for the life he has given me and for the cloak of protection I have been privileged to have received all my life. I am also a firm believer in Guardian Angels.
I still wonder, after all these years, if I have kept my “Promise” to the “Light”.

I have tried my best to keep it.
My "Promise to the Light" has been my motivation and driving force.

One last tiny piece of information: This is a True Story.

I dedicate this story to the woman that I have loved for 61 plus years. She has stood beside me in the best of times and the worst of times. Most women would have never put up with me in those early years. Her name is Doris.
She now has third stage of dementia/Alzheimer's. I have tried to take care of her, but it was a losing battle
so I had to place her into a nursing home.
I try to visit her every day and I am confident that she is being well taken care of.
It's a damn shame she is being robbed of a comfortable retirement.

I think my childhood and Military training in Martial Arts had a direct bearing on my attitude during those young adult years. I was reasonably proficient at Ju-jitsu, Judo and Dim-Mak.

We are both 84 now and time is our enemy.  I have lived an exciting life and if the 
Grimm Reaper takes me home … I am ready.

Thank God for the "Light"... and the "Promise".


End of chapter 6

Sub-Chapter ... 6A..My Education ... That I worked so Damn hard to get.

EDUCATION: Scott Senior High Electrical Trade School, Coatesville, PA.
* U.S. Navy Class “A” Electronic Tech School
(Formal education with Associates Degree)
· Tunnel “Executive Management” course ( 80 hours)
· Borg-Warner, “Participative Management” (Mandatory-320 hrs.)
· Tunnel “Preventive Maintenance Management” (40 hrs.)
· I.C.S. Electrical Engineering Courses (4 yrs) B.S. Equivalent Degree
· York Institute of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (3 yr night school)
( Associates Degree )
· Leadership Training – Hospital Council of Western PA.

TRAINING THROUGH QUORUM
(formerly Hospital Corp of America)
· Effective Management in a Changing Environment - 6 credits
· Effective Management Communications - 5 credits
· Effective Psychology in Leadership - 6 credits
· Effective Interviewing and Selection - 5 credits
· Leadership - 6 credits
· Productivity - 6 credits
· Housekeeping Management - 7.5 credits
· Quality in Progress

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
· Team Building … Continuing Education…. 9.5 credits

JUNIATA COLLEGE
· Dynamics of Supervision (cont. education) … 4.2 credits

BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS (Wash. D.C.)
· Safety Consulting for Industry & Institutions (OSHA)
(Fully Certified)

2001 to 2010: Semi – Retired / Working Part time in Hardware

1992 to 2001 - Self Employed- Professional Consulting Services
· DBA – Nicholson Consulting Services
Providing......Safety / Management / Engineering
Licensed in PA. As a Broker Agent Handling Financial needs
Analysis and Insurance.
· Supplying a full range of services to clients based on their facilities needs.
· 
The Ace Fix-It Hardware store also provided continuing education.

Education never quits if you want to succeed in this life.
I learn something new every day, however... I can't help wondering how much we forget as we get older.