Madigan staff named top facility manager

By Mrs Tawny M Dotson (Army Medicine)July 7, 2011

Barney Richmond Facility Management Award Winner
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Barney Richmond Facility Management Award Winner
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (From left to right) Mike Carico, Doug Jones and Britt Stockrahm look through the Engineered Smoke and Control System’s latest upgrade at Madigan Healthcare System. Stockrahm was nominated by Carico for the U.S. Army Medical Command’s Barney Richmond... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Britt Stockrahm, electronic industrial controls mechanic work leader for Madigan Healthcare System, was named this year’s Barney W. Richmond Facility Management Award recipient for the U.S. Army Medical Command.

The award was given to him June 23 at the MEDCOM Health Facility Planning Agency Symposium.

“When you are standing in a room full of [high ranking individuals] and they announce that you are going up there it’s quite an honor,” said Stockrahm. He continued to explain his feelings about the nomination and the award by saying “it shows you that [your supervisors] appreciate you because they notice what you do.”

This MEDCOM award recognizes an individual each year who contributes to the organization or command through cost savings and unique initiatives in facility management.

Stockrahm, an employee of Madigan since 1997, has been recognized consistently for his work in the electrical management of Madigan’s campus.

Stockrahm’s nomination package focused on his work with the Engineered Smoke and Control System at Madigan.

This system monitors a number of controls within the hospital including air conditioning, electrical and heating.

The system is tied to the alarms within the hospital and acts to create a local defense plan to ensure the hospital would not need to be evacuated completely when an emergency, such as a fire, occurs.

Instead the ESCS works to localize the emergency and keep hospital operations as close to normal as possible.

“It’s all the building controls,” said Stockrahm about the ESCS. “We had a rudimentary system in here before. We weren’t able to do as much as we can with the new system”

Stockrahm and more than 40 of the Facilities Management Division team worked on installing and upgrading the ESCS over a number of years.

The project, which is ongoing, updated the older system to allow more custom control.

The new room for the ESCS mirrors that of an operations center full of computer screens, LCD televisions, and the purr of servers.

The dark room feels like the epicenter of control for the hospital and in many ways is the brain of system operations.

A major improvement in the new system allows it to be controlled remotely from operators’ homes as well, which has saved late night trips to the hospital for maintenance issues.

“We can fix about 3/4 of non-mechanical issues from our homes,” said Stockrahm.

The project was also completed in-house and was transparent to staff that went about normal operations during the upgrades.

“When we tell almost anybody what we’ve done to get to this point, that’s what blows them away,” said Stockrahm.

Stockrahm, nominated by Mike Carico, the manager of Madigan’s Facilities Management Division, was recognized for a number of other accomplishments including being a key player in Madigan’s 10 percent reduction of steam and electric power.

In addition he contributed to Madigan receiving the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Award and has upgraded over 70 percent of Madigan’s Metasys Network Control Module, which is now the new Metasys Extended Architecture controls.

“Britt shows that he has this forward vision in a lean-forward organization,” said Carico. “It’s not just [the ESCS] project, it’s everything Britt has done here.”

Carico spoke of Stockrahm’s best characteristics as an employee. “His loyalty and dedication to the organization. That he puts people number 1,” said Carico.

In April of this year Stockrahm was promoted to a lead position. In that capacity he manages workloads and projects.

He also ensures safety and facility rules are followed.

He inspects and maintains operational checks and installation projects.

His work focuses on more than eleven electronic systems within Madigan.