Joyce will address central service pros

Healthcare Purchasing News, Oct, 1999

If you are a central service professional and you're beginning to wonder about your career choice, you're probably not alone. But Sean Joyce may be able to remind you why you did go this route -- and why it's a good thing you did.

Joyce will be a keynote speaker when the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management holds its fall meeting in Chicago. The four-day event will be held at Swissotel, from Oct. 31 through Nov. 3.

In addition to reminding central service pros why they have taken their current job, Joyce will also address:

* How your individual personality affects your work environment.

* How to better communicated with others on the job.

* How to increase both productivity and effectiveness.

* How to better deal with stress.

* How to have fun at work.

In addition, central service professionals can attend technical sterilization offerings in such areas as steam sterilization, ethylene oxide sterilization, and general trends in sterilization/disinfection.

Attendees can also sharpen their management skills by going to sessions on total quality management, empowerment and facilitating work teams. Additional sessions will address endoscopic instrumentation care and handling, as well as the unresolved issue of single-use devices and how they can be re-used.

For more information or to register, call the association at (800) 962-8274.

Enjoying the 'Windy City'

Known as the "Windy City," Chicago's nickname refers to its residents' boastfulness about their town -- not the powerful gusts that sometimes blow in off Lake Michigan.

According to popular belief, the moniker was coined by a reporter who visited the city during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and noticed that the citizens loved to talk about their town. And that is still true today. Chicagoans are fiercely proud of their city.

Among the things the city boasts:

* 30 miles of shoreline.

* 50 city-owned movable bridges.

* 64 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates (from the University of Chicago).

* More than 40 museums.

* More than 6,000 restaurants.

* 15 miles of beaches.

* 18 miles of lakefront bicycle paths.

* More than 200 annual parades.

* 1,134 Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit (train) cars.

Below you'll find some of the sites and stores Chicago loves to brag about.

Famous Chicago sites

Navy Pier: With a history that dates back to 1909, Navy Pier was revitalized as a major entertainment center in 1994. The $150 million redevelopment project improved nearly every aspect of the pier, including the restoration of the historic head house at the main entrance, the construction of a 170,000 square-foot exhibition hall, a 48,000-square-foot meeting room area, parking garages, Skyline Stage, a giant Ferris wheel, a carousel and a park. As Chicago's lakefront playground, Navy Pier offers visitors a unique mix of family-oriented attractions.

Buckingham Fountain: Located in Grant Park, it is one of the world's largest fountains and was the landmark featured in the opening song of television's "Married With Children."

Art Institute of Chicago: The museum is located at the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Adams St. on the eastern edge of Chicago's famous downtown Loop. The Art Institute, which comprises both a museum and a school, found its permanent home on Michigan Avenue after the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The museum houses more than 300,000 works of art within its 10 curatorial departments. It features the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside the Louvre in Paris.

Museum of Science and Industry: About a 20-minute ride south of downtown, the museum has a coal mine, a German submarine, a 727 passenger jet, an F-14 jet fighter flight simulator, a five-story high Omnimax theater and a chick hatchery.

Field Museum: Situated near the Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium off Lake Shore Drive, the Field Museum contains some 225,000 square feet of exhibit space. Exhibits cover a vast range of subjects -- including dinosaurs, gems, plants and animals, Africa, ancient Egypt and Native American cultures -- that appeal to visitors of all ages and backgrounds. The majority of permanent exhibits have been renovated in the last 10 years using innovative exhibit techniques that engage and involve visitors. Special exhibits are featured throughout the year.

Shedd Aquarium: The aquarium is a global collection of over 8,000 aquatic animals, representing over 650 species, including whales, otters, penguins, sharks and eels.

Adler Planetarium: Incredibly realistic multimedia sky shows transport visitors to nearby planets, distant stars and galaxies. There are three floors of exhibits on astronomy, space exploration, telescopes and navigation.

Sears Tower and John Hancock Center: Two of Chicago's largest and best-known skyscrapers have observation decks that offer breathtaking views of the city at heights of more than 90 floors above the street.

Harold Washington Library: It's the largest public library in the world with more than 2 million shelved volumes available to the public.