Maintenance Staff Saves 

Rome Memorial Hospital Money

ROME – Anyone who has had an estimate for house repairs or renovations knows the work doesn’t come cheap.

Fortunately for Rome Memorial Hospital, it can call upon the skills of its Maintenance Department to perform most of the routine maintenance as well as finish a long list of special projects. Approximately three-quarters of the hospital have been renovated in the last six years with the help of the skilled carpenters, electricians, painters, and plumbers on the hospital’s staff.

"They are the best maintenance department that I have ever worked with," said Alvin C. White, President/CEO. "I am continually impressed by their level of talent and skills. They can do just about anything, and their pride and dedication is evident in the quality of their work."

According to Director Edward Koziarz, the maintenance staff has saved the hospital up to $287,500 in just the last three years. "The savings are significant, even when factoring in the many hours of overtime my staff works to finish the special projects," he said. "On average, it would cost an extra 20 to 40 percent to have an outside contractor do the work."

For example, the staff recently resealed the parking lot at Chestnut Commons at a cost of $3,000 for labor and materials, compared to the $5,000 it would have cost to contract it out.

In addition to saving money, a dedicated in-house staff works around the needs of the hospital and its patient volume. It would have been very difficult to have a contractor come in to renovate the Emergency Department with the many starts and stops that were necessary because the department was still in use during the renovations.

The department is staffed by 19 professionals, who are skilled in the building trades. "Most of the guys have multiple skills under their belt which gives us a lot more flexibility and allows us to juggle multiple projects," Koziarz said. "Some came to us with varied skills, some expanded their skills on the job and others went to school to learn new trades."

The staff is responsible for the safety of everyone who sets foot on the hospital’s property. They take care of 200,000 square feet of parking lots and five acres of lawns. They do everything from change a light bulb to totally renovate a nursing unit. The department also has bio-medical technicians, who specialize in keeping much of the hospital’s clinical equipment in working order.

At many facilities, the maintenance staff performs just the preventative maintenance and routine repairs, and contracts out the special projects, according to Koziarz. "About the only thing we contract out are the elevators, air conditioning chillers, water treatment system, and the major renovation projects like the rehab unit that required specialists for asbestos abatement," he said.

In the last few months, the staff wrapped up renovations to the Endoscopy unit, prepared the CT suite for the new LightSpeed scanner, and finished the renovations at the former Goldberg’s Building in preparation for the Information Technology Department and Materials Management moving downtown.

"Half the battle of running my department is having a good staff, which I have," Koziarz said. "The other half is having a good right hand man, which I also have in Jim Marquette. They all take pride in the work that they do and I’m proud of them and all that they have accomplished."

Koziarz has worked for the hospital for nearly 25 years, serving as director since 1990. He’s seen a lot of administrations come and go during that time.

"The best change that I’ve seen was the privatization of the hospital," he said. "This administration understands the importance of maintaining a building, putting money back into it, and replacing things when they become too costly to keep repairing."

Koziarz thinks that’s one reason why his department has so little turnover. "We see first-hand administration’s commitment to this facility through its investment in the physical plant. There’s also the appreciation for the work that we do."