Interview

Crystal Eagle winner is dedicated to mentorship

Daniel Campbell reflects on starting — and restarting — a nearly five-decade career in health care facilities management
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Name

The Campbell File

CV

  • Regulatory compliance officer, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia.
  • Senior facilities manager, regulatory compliance, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia.
  • Intermittent Life Safety specialist surveyor, The Joint Commission.
  • Director of facilities and operations, Jeanes Hospital, Philadelphia.
  • Testing and balancing engineer, W.M. Anderson Company, Philadelphia.
  • Sheet metal journeyman, W.M. Anderson Company, Philadelphia.
  • Interior communications electrician, U.S. Navy.

Accomplishments

  • American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) Fellow status (2011).
  • ASHE Region 2 Emerging Regional Leader (2006).
  • Healthcare Facility Managers Association of Delaware Valley (HFMADV) Facilities Manager of the Year (2003).
  • HFMADV President (1997-98).

Education

  • Testing and balancing engineer certification, Spring Garden College.
  • Four-year sheet metal apprenticeship.
  • U.S. Navy Class “A” school for electricity.

Daniel Campbell, CHFM, FASHE, is the recipient of the American Society for Health Care Engineering’s (ASHE’s) Crystal Eagle Leadership Award. In this interview, Campbell distills his extensive health care compliance and facilities management experience into practical, hard-won advice for career success.

How does it feel to win the Crystal Eagle Leadership Award?

It is an incredible honor. There are so many ASHE members whom I look up to, and many have become long-distance friends. It means so much to know that, at least in some way, I have been able to make a difference in this profession helping people become successful.

How did you navigate from your tenure as a Navy electrician into a career in health care engineering?

I left the U.S. Navy in November 1963 as an interior communications electrician third class and pursued work with the telephone company in Philadelphia, but no work was available. So I took a test to be a sheet metal apprentice, along with a few hundred others, and was hired to one of 10 open positions at W.M. Anderson Company. A few years after serving my apprenticeship, the area superintendent for the company asked me if I would be interested in attending a four-year night college to be included in the first sheet metal industry class to become a testing and balance engineer (TBE) on the company’s dime. So I went to Spring Garden College and graduated in 1975 as a TBE. A couple years later, W.M. Anderson Company went out of business, and after six months of unemployment, I decided to go into a different field. I landed a job as a maintenance supervisor at Jeanes Hospital and became the director of facilities two years later. I spent 28 years there until I retired — the first time — in 2004.

What perspective did you gain working at the same hospital for 28 years?

I learned that hospitals are special places to work. Facilities managers have a huge responsibility in making sure systems are running to meet demands and that codes and standards are continuously met. Acquiring new infrastructure equipment is a struggle unless the equipment fails. Maintenance departments have a hard time leveraging capital resources when new medical equipment takes precedence. Facilities managers have to be very creative to keep older equipment operating at an acceptable level.

Staffing levels have dwindled over the years, mainly because of benchmarking comparisons that suggest more could be done with less. No two hospitals are alike, and comparisons do not tell the real story, but facilities teams are still required to continually justify their budgets. I am a big advocate for succession planning and am proud to say I was successful at Jeanes Hospital.

When did you join ASHE, and what are some contributions to the organization you’re most proud of?

I have been an ASHE member since March 1980. Once the Certified Health Care Facility Manager (CHFM) certification became the standard for hiring qualified supervisors and directors, I encouraged many of my coworkers to become CHFM certified. As a result, six of my coworkers became facilities directors and still are today. To spread the importance of CHFM certification further, I participated in panel discussions to packed houses at various Pennsylvania and New Jersey locations. I’m also proud of the fact that I have been educating chapter members for more than 40 years on codes and standards updates at scheduled meetings.

I am still advocating CHFM certification to newly minted supervisors and have expanded my role to helping those pursuing ASHE Fellow and Senior designations. I keep encouraging those willing to learn and become successful: “You need to be certified!”

What motivated you to continue pursuing your career after your “first retirement” from Jeanes Hospital?

Shortly after announcing my retirement in 2004, I got a call from Bob Siegfried, director of facilities at Temple University Hospital, asking if I was still interested in working. I thought about my youngest daughter, who was considering college at the time. If I worked at Temple University, her tuition would be free, so I said yes.

Initially working part-time, Bob and I collaborated on the duties of a position that would allow me to focus on regulatory compliance for the hospital. Free from the time-consuming responsibilities that every facilities director faces, I was able to thrive in the regulatory world. Bob allowed me to become a creative thinker when writing policies and preparing for surveys. He also allowed me to expand my role when The Joint Commission was hiring CHFM-certified facilities managers as Life Safety Code surveyors. I submitted my application to become an intermittent surveyor and was hired as one of the first 50 Life Safety Code surveyors.

Nine years later, I retired again. Two years after my second retirement, I was contacted by my longtime friend Dominic Nocito, who had become the facilities director at both Jeanes Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC), the latter of which Temple University Hospital had acquired. I was hired to be the part-time regulatory compliance officer for FCCC and help him run the facilities department. Bob Siegfried was hired to take my place at FCCC. Today, I am still working at FCCC, doing the job I love: compliance!

Many ASHE members count you as a mentor and credit you with helping them advance their careers. Who demonstrated that mentorship for you?

My direct supervisor at Jeanes Hospital, Ed Simon, was an architect. He taught me how to write job specifications for the mechanical work of a construction project. When I wrote my first specification for a new, complete heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system, Ed told me it had to be done with only words and no drawings. The other stipulation was the work had to be done with no more than 5% in extras. After my success with that job, he allowed me to prepare drawings and write the specifications for other projects. Ed would astonish contractors with his knowledge at meetings because he understood other trades, could ask good questions and get successful outcomes.

Working with him taught me to go beyond your own trade knowledge and learn other aspects of health care facilities. Hence, I studied the code books and gave seminars at fire marshals’ conferences, and code and standards updates at the Healthcare Facility Managers Association of Delaware Valley meetings. Writing many mechanical job specifications was a precursor to being able to write health care facilities policies and procedures. 

What advice would you give to the younger generations of health care facilities leaders?

There are always glitches on the way to success. You have to rebound and not let setbacks bother you for too long. It will take time and a refocus of priorities to determine how to get past the bumps and succeed. Time is on your side while you’re young, but don’t let life pass you by. As soon as possible, figure out what you want out of your work. Keep learning as much as you can, especially about the hardest part of your work, and make it your ambition to be the best at doing it. It may take years, but acquiring that knowledge will allow you to be recognized as the go-to person in your field. The rewards for your time and efforts will be paid back a thousand times over.

Landon Hegedus is editor of Health Facilities Management magazine.