‘Grand Effort’ by Jeffersonians Brings ‘Smooth’ Y2K Landing

See also: Does February 29 Pose a ‘Y2Klet’ Problem?

Citing Jefferson’s ample but “prudent” preparation for Y2K, Ira S. Tackel, Director, Biomedical Instrumentation, who chaired the Y2K task force, described a “very smooth result” over the critical New Year’s Eve weekend.

Why?

“The enormous, but appropriate, amount of preparation we did,” says Mr. Tackel.

“Our approach was pragmatic. We did not go overboard. We took what we believed were the prudent steps in assuring our Y2K compliance. And they certainly panned out well for us. 

“I’m very proud of the effort by Jefferson staff. Everybody worked remarkably well together on a very difficult project that had many different facets of complexity and detail. The end result was very smooth, thanks to a grand effort by all that played out well.”

Part of the preparation Mr. Tackel cites came into play during the overnight staffing of the Y2K Command Center on New Year’s Eve day and night.

“Thanks to the shrinking world of communications, we were in email contact with colleagues in Malaysia and Australia, giving us a truly heads-up global link, if you will. These advance reports confirmed no real problems were coming, but also identified some medical devices that indeed had failed. Fortunately, we did not have those particular models at Jefferson but if we had, we were alerted.”

In fact, the only New Year’s Eve problems in the entire Jefferson Health System were two or three involving minor date-stamp errors. 

Nearly 150 employees providing direct Y2K compliance support were honored at a reception in Eakins Lounge. Each will receive a “We Were Y2K Ready” polo shirt.

Citing the difficulty in singling out individual employees for recognition, Mr. Tackel identified several for special recognition:

Barbara Moore, Biomedical Instrumentation, overall coordinator of Y2K efforts; as well as Dan Vallieu, Facilities Services; Dan Benson, Biomedical Instrumentation; Steve Tranquillo, Healthlink; Rich Cowan and Betty Elmore, Information Technology; and Phyllis Fisher and Jeff Baxt, Public Relations.

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