Christmas message from the IFHE President
"Let 2025 be different, let us work together on making meaningful change wherever we find ourselves"To all our members:
It has been a month since my inauguration as president of the International Federation of Healthcare
Engineering.
The past year leading up to the inauguration has been a challenge for the EXCO of the federation with
the registration of the Federation in Switzerland while working on strategy to keep our Federation
aligned with the ever-changing Healthcare landscape.
My involvement in Healthcare over the last thirty-four years has always been to remain aligned with this
landscape. The changes was always about changing technologies, communication, the migration to the
virtual environment and all these topics have put more and more pressure on all of us working in this
space.
The result of these challenges and our inability to change have resulted in many of our colleagues
ending up with physical or mental health challenges that disrupt work-life equilibrium. Difficulty in
distinguishing between work and home life. Fear of job loss leading to overworking and neglect of
personal life.
Not too long ago I met an individual that ended up in hospital and had a wrong procedure done on him
resulting in him being put into an induced coma for six years. When he recovered, he was encouraged to
seek compensation for the wrong procedure that was done on him. He pondered on this for a while and
eventually asked himself the question, “What part did I play in the situation I find myself in?.”
This is the question I wish to put out to all of us in the work place. “Are we contributing to the work life
equilibrium imbalance of our colleagues?”
The challenges of coping with changes involves communication and timeous responses across the globe
in different time zones. This puts enormous pressure on individuals to stay up to date. Over
communicating and involving to many people unnecessarily in meetings. Scheduling meetings way
ahead of time and filling up diaries where the contributions to the growth of our institutions are small or
often worthless.
My challenge to you for 2025 is to carefully consider the above before engaging persons in emails or
meetings. The amount of time spent reading email trails not being able to prepare for meetings is
contributing to the life work imbalance.
Let 2025 be different, let us work together on making meaningful change wherever we find ourselves.
Think about who needs to be included in emails and meetings before pressing that send button.
May the New Year bring satisfaction to your work environment, may we all make meaningful
contributions to whatever institutions we are working in and most important that we find work life
balance that will improve our relationships within our family units.
Regards
Kevin Poggenpoel
IFHE President