OCTC's HFL Student Earns Honors at ASHE Conference

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OWENSBORO, KY (08/23/2017) Owensboro Community & Technical College's (OCTC) Healthcare Facilities Leadership (HFL) program trains students to handle all aspects of maintenance and operations in healthcare facilities leadership that happens behind the scenes. The OCTC program, which began in January of 2014 is totally online, and currently has more than 70 students from 29 states. The program is a unique partnership with the Kentucky Association of Healthcare Engineers (KSHE) and OCTC. Program Director, Mike Canales enjoys the challenge of engaging with this wide variety of students.

"Most of these students are non-traditional college students, already working in the field, so the online option fits their needs." added Canales. He recently attended the American Society for Healthcare Engineering's (ASHE) 54th Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana to recruit students, and to see his student receive one of the organizations prestigious awards.

Ken Gibson, on track to graduate this spring with an HFL associate degree from OCTC, is employed by Sodexo as Director of Engineering at Sharp Coronado Hospital. Located just outside San Diego in California, this state of the art 180 bed facility provides medical, surgical, intensive, subacute and long-term care. A retired Navy veteran Gibson began his career as an entry level mechanic, just 10 years ago. His rise to Director was due to hard work, great mentors, and Gibson's dedication to following through on his educational opportunities. He credits the HFL courses for being "the biggest boost in the field". Gibson was recognized at the ASHE Annual National Conference, as a SASHE, for his achievements in the field, this honor awards senior status to active ASHE members demonstrating a commitment to the healthcare facility management profession and recognizing their contribution to the industry through leadership, education, and publishing.

Gibson added, "The HFL program is amazing. The HFL program is going to change the lives of so many students by giving them an avenue to advance their healthcare engineering knowledge. It also will help a lot of our returning military and veterans out there working in healthcare, by using their GI Bill to advance in healthcare."

The HFL program is designed for those already working in healthcare facilities management, but it can be valuable for those who want to get started in this field. It was developed in collaboration with (ASHE) and (KSHE) and was recently expanded to include a diploma option.

Scott Williams, OCTC President commented, "The HFL program was created to fill an industry need. Anytime we can be responsive to our business and industry partners it will ultimately benefit students and our community. "

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 HFL program credentials include an associate degree, and diploma. The program provides healthcare specific courses on management, infection control, project planning, and more. OCTC's HFL program is convenient and affordable. It can be accessed from anywhere, because all courses are online.

The program prepares students to take the American Hospital Associations Certified Healthcare Facilities Management exam. For more information on the program please contact Mike Canales at 270-852-8142 or via e-mail at mike.canales@kctcs.edu.

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Owensboro Community & Technical College is one of the sixteen community and technical colleges that make up the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. OCTC serves the KY counties of Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and McLean. OCTC has three campuses in Daviess County and a Center and Annex in Hancock County. OCTC strives to serve the communities in the service area by providing associate degree education for transfer, state of the art technical education for students focusing on entering the workforce, customized business and industry solutions through the Workforce Solutions division, and adult education and business and industry testing through the SkillTrain unit.

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The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is the Commonwealth's largest postsecondary institution with 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses. We also are Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training and online education. Through partnerships with business and industry, we align our programs to meet the needs of local employers. We help students fulfill their dreams of creating a better life through programs that lead directly to jobs or help them transfer to one of our four-year partners.

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