Okanagan College Media Release - Dec. 5, 2007

Graham Baker, Peter van Wissen, Iain Cameron and Jim Hamilton

With a limited supply of certified technologists entering the healthcare field and a looming shortage of skilled professionals, students enrolled in Okanagan College’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program will benefit from a new endowment fund and scholarship program set up by the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society, B.C. Chapter (CHES).

A $10,000 endowment fund was recently created by the local chapter of CHES with the goal of supporting Okanagan College technology students who show an interest in entering the healthcare industry. The award will be known as the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society, B.C. Chapter Scholarship and will be distributed annually beginning this May.

“Almost all industries are scrambling to find employees and the hospital industry is no different,” explains Peter van Wissen, Manager of Plant Services at Kelowna General Hospital. “By offering this new scholarship we are hoping to focus some attention on another source of employment for mechanical engineering technology students.”

Van Wissen and Graham Baker, who managed Plant Services at KGH prior to van Wissen, are two members the B.C. chapter of CHES who felt strongly that the healthcare field has a lot to offer to technologists. In order to make employment opportunities more widely known, the duo approached their local CHES board to fund the Okanagan College scholarship.

Upon receiving the news from the CHES board that funding for the scholarship had been approved Baker replied “This is great news and demonstrates the commitment of the Executive Board of CHES B.C. towards the education of the next generation of people coming into the Engineering Technologies field. That the Board approved my motion of the bursary in just two fiscal years is just wonderful for a small society such as ours.”

“We hope to stimulate students to get a good education and recognize the hospital industry as a potential place to work,” says van Wissen.

The scholarship will be awarded to one student who has completed the first year of full-time student in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program and will be returning to complete the program the following semester. The Mechanical Engineering Technology department will select the recipient based on overall performance and participation.