Healthcare Facilities Leadership Program Begins in January

Healthcare Facilities Leadership is a rapidly expanding field with lucrative career opportunities.
Only one college in the nation offers a degree program to prepare skilled professionals for this high demand field - Owensboro Community and Technical College.

The program is designed for those working in healthcare facilities management, but it can also be valuable for those who want to get started in this field. It was developed in collaboration with American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) and the Kentucky Society of Healthcare Engineers (KSHE). Classes will begin January 2014, pending approval.

Theres nothing like this out there now, said Mike Canales, the Healthcare Facilities Leadership program director. This program is really going to fill a gap.

The field of facilities management includes engineering, maintenance and other support service positions that are critical to the smooth operation of hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The Healthcare Facilities Leadership associate degree provides healthcare specific courses on management, infection control, project planning and more.

OCTCs Healthcare Facility Leadership program is convenient and affordable. It can be accessed from anywhere, because all courses are online.

The response has been incredible. Weve had calls and e-mails from all over the country, said OCTC President Jim Klauber. There is clearly a tremendous need for this unique program, and we are excited about being the institution to offer it.

Canales, who spent more than 20 years as a facility manager before joining OCTC, said the complex nature of healthcare facility management today requires a unique mix of skills: customer service, risk assessment, emergency management, codes and standards, infection control, energy tracking, and more.

The program prepares students to take the American Hospital Associations Certified Healthcare Facilities Management exam. Klauber said multiple four-year universities have expressed interest in partnering to offer 2+2 programs to make it easy for graduates to go on to earn bachelors degrees if they choose.

We believe the potential for this program is boundless, and we are looking forward to welcoming our first class, Klauber said. Well have students from Kentucky and many other states including Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Arizona to name a few.

For information, contact Program Director Mike Canales at mike.canales@kctcs.edu or (270) 852-8142.