The CE team has been honored for its leadership during the move and for its commitment to the health and safety of patients and team members.
By Maureen Gilmer, IU Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org
The clinical engineering team at Riley Children’s Health might be a behind-the-scenes team operating out of the basement, but the group’s work took center stage recently during the opening of Riley’s new Maternity Tower.
The 15-member team was honored recently as winners of the TRIMEDX team values award of excellence for helping to orchestrate and facilitate the massive move involving team members and equipment from IU Health Methodist Hospital and Riley.
TRIMEDX manages the clinical engineering department at Riley and other IU Health hospitals, in addition to hospitals around the country.
“We were happy and proud to see how the team took ownership,” said Lisann Goodin-Burton, systems director for clinical engineering. “This team continues to serve with compassion and deserves to be recognized as one of the best for its effort and commitment to excellence.”
Riley’s new 140-bed Maternity Tower opened Sunday, Nov. 7. The project included moving and expanding the existing labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care units from Methodist to Riley, in addition to opening four surgical suites, a high-risk obstetrics unit and two floors of postpartum recovery suites.
For months leading up to the move, the CE team was powering on all cylinders to get everything online and ready for the big day, ensuring that patients had the best experience possible.
That involved installing thousands of pieces of equipment and devices, while also troubleshooting and resolving workflow and safety issues.
“It’s so cool to be a part of history like this, and for hospital leadership to recognize the impact that our team made is huge because we work behind the scenes,” said Mike Zippay, senior site manager.
“Even the weekend of Go Live, while the moms and babies were being transported here, simultaneously in the basement, we were unloading truckload after truckload of gear and getting it inspected and ready for them.”
Zippay, a father of four himself, was most proud of the fact that every member of his team volunteered to work that weekend to ensure a safe opening of the new hospital wing, not only for moms and babies but for team members as well.
A few days after the opening, the Riley clinical engineering team was honored to raise the state flag for the first time outside the main entrance to the Maternity Tower.
“The main thing is that we weren’t trying to win an award,” said senior technician Paul Franklin. “This is how we approach our jobs every day.”
That commitment is obvious, Goodin-Burton said.
“We could not be more proud of this team and the work they are doing to serve the mothers, babies and children at Riley Children’s Health.”
While proud of his team, Zippay gives a shout out to other departments as well, including supply chain, information technology and facilities engineering.
“So many support services departments that a lot of people don’t think about did just tremendous work,” he said. “It was really fun to collaborate with all those teams.”
And the clinical leadership coming from Methodist, he said, is a fantastic group.
“Anybody who comes here for care, they’re in really great hands.”
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