Describe your day-to-day responsibilities and a typical day.
As the Elevator Program Manager it is my job to manage Medxcel’s national elevator portfolio. We facilitate roughly one million rides on our elevators each day! It’s my job to assess what works best for Medxcel and our client facilities in terms of elevators and other vertical transportation systems. Our top priority is to ensure that the best possible environment of care is maintained for our patients, staff, and visitors. I support our local client healthcare facilities by providing program and project management solutions for everything related to elevators. I also work with the Medxcel Planning, Design & Construction team when implementing capital projects, partnering with field personnel, vendors, contractors, and engineering consultants to ensure that capital projects are designed and delivered according to specifications. My goals are elevator incident reduction, improved system reliability, and operational risk mitigation. To achieve those goals, I pursue excellence in project planning and execution, project control, project communication, and infrastructure master planning.
How does Medxcel partner with vendors in the elevator space?
My role is unique in that elevators are kind of a niche specialty within Medxcel. We don’t repair them ourselves; we partner with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) who do the work, and I’m responsible for setting up those national vendor contracts. I manage the contracts and if there’s an issue with an elevator, our field technicians reach out to their local OEM directly to have it serviced. If there’s a large cost or it’s out of the contract scope, then I get involved to review and approve those types of things. It’s ultimately my responsibility to ensure that Medxcel and our customers are getting the best value possible while delivering service excellence when it comes to elevators.
Describe the path you took to arrive in your current role.
My path to a career in the elevator industry was not a straight one. I graduated with a degree in neuroscience, then decided that’s not what I wanted to pursue. I joined the Army as a commissioned officer and served for eight years including two tours in Baghdad. During my second tour I was involved in infrastructure projects in Iraq. We were rebuilding schools, hospitals, and other facilities and that’s where I got interested in this type of work. After I left the Army, I received a cold call from a recruiter in the elevator industry who thought I would be a great fit based on my military background and leadership skills. They promised they would train me on the industry, which I knew nothing about. So I joined a major elevator company and was with them for eight years, then I moved to several other major elevator companies after that. I eventually received a call from a Medxcel recruiter who said they had an interesting opportunity for me. I was pleasantly surprised by the forethought that Medxcel put into creating a position, as opposed to always having to pay an outside consultant to give them advice. I joined Medxcel and it is much more cost effective to have me on the team ready to respond and looking out for the interests of Medxcel and our customers.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is working with the teams at Medxcel to provide solutions that positively impact patient care and our customers. It’s also gratifying to be able to develop elevator program solutions that provide cost-savings to Medxcel and our customers. I love it when someone calls me with an issue and I’m able to come up with a creative solution to solve their problem. That’s the core of what my position embodies: problem solving, developing creative solutions, and helping our teams.
How does Medxcel impact patient care?
Medxcel impacts patient care from beginning to end. Medxcel associates are not clinicians, but when a person comes into a hospital the first thing they see is the landscaping, and then probably an elevator. From my perspective elevators are an important part of the experience for patients, staff and visitors at our sites. If you’re a visitor and you come in and have a long wait for an elevator, that negatively affects your experience. For staff, if you’re trying to deliver food to patients and the elevator is taking too long, that affects the quality of meal delivery. From the perspective of patients and staff, if you have a patient on a stretcher or bed being moved to a location in the hospital, and they’re waiting in the lobby or hallway for an elevator, that patient feels exposed, and they need to get situated and begin receiving care. All of these things matter. In our operating rooms, if the surgeon can’t get the patient moved to the operating room, that can cause issues, time is often of the essence in critical medical situations. I also hold responsibility for other vertical transportation at our sites, things like dumb waiters which are used to transport dirty dishes and soiled and clean linens for the nurses so they can change scrubs and move sterile equipment. Cart lifts are also managed by elevator contracts. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes in a hospital and that’s where Medxcel shines, impacting patient care in many positive ways that may seem unseen.
How would you describe the Medxcel culture?
The culture at Medxcel is great. When I first joined Medxcel I didn’t expect the level of camaraderie and teamwork that I’ve experienced. It’s unparalleled to anything I’ve experienced anywhere else. During one of my early days at Medxcel there was a town hall meeting. I asked what that was. I was in awe of the town hall; I’ve never experienced that kind of informative forum and I quickly learned we’re all working together towards a common purpose. Working here I’ve learned that we can achieve superior results because of our collaborative team-oriented environment. At the end of the day, Medxcel associates are proud of what they’ve achieved because their efforts are self-driven towards our common purpose of serving patients.
What would you say to someone who asks you if you recommend working for Medxcel?
It’s funny, I’m often approached by friends or former colleagues in the elevator world, asking me what is so special about Medxcel. They notice that I’m so much happier than when I worked on their side of the industry, and they want to know what’s going on over here. There’s not much I have to do to sell Medxcel, the culture sells itself. I tell people that it’s a great place to work and a team-based environment unlike any elevator company I’ve worked for in the past. I also share that working for Medxcel leaves me more fulfilled knowing there is a common mission surrounding patient care and service of the poor, as opposed to only looking at the bottom line. While that is important, there’s a larger overall mission.
Is there anything unexpected you’ve learned during your time at Medxcel?
I’ve learned that no two days here are the same. Most days present an unusual or interesting challenge.
I’ve seen a lot prior to coming to Medxcel, so anything new or unexpected to me likely equates to a really bad day for someone else. Quietness in my world is a good thing.