Healthcare Facilities Network

Capital Healthcare Projects Done Right | Live from PDC Houston

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Live from the PDC in Houston, Healthcare Facilities Network sits down with Jeff O’Neil of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital to unpack what it really takes to execute healthcare capital projects successfully.

With a multidimensional professional background spanning construction, operations, and facilities leadership, Jeff brings a practical lens to one of the most challenging transitions in healthcare facilities management: moving from project completion to operational ownership. He explains why “Santa Claus isn’t coming to town” during capital projects and why discipline and rigor are essential as projects shift from construction teams to operational stakeholders.

The conversation dives into the reality of managing end-user requests during active projects, balancing expectations, and avoiding scope creep that can derail timelines and budgets. Jeff also highlights the importance of strong leadership alignment when addressing deferred maintenance, and how executive support can make the difference between reactive fixes and strategic long-term planning.

Healthcare capital projects do not end at substantial completion. Success depends on operational readiness, clear governance, and leadership support. This episode explores how facilities teams can apply rigor, manage expectations, and ensure projects deliver long-term value once they transition into daily operations.

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Good Fast Cheap Tradeoff

SPEAKER_03

In my office I have something and I'm I'm gonna do this slowly because I I always chip over it, but we offer three kinds of services. Good, fast, and cheap. But you can only have two at a time. Cheap and fast will not be good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And um uh good and cheap. Good and cheap will not be fast.

SPEAKER_00

I like that.

SPEAKER_03

So I read it better off my wall, but I don't have it on. That's why I keep it on my wall. Because I always we can superimpose it back up there.

Meet Jeff O’Neill At PDC

SPEAKER_02

There's a major crisis facing healthcare facilities management. We have aging employees, aging buildings, and aging infrastructure. We've created the healthcare facilities network, a content network designed specifically to help solve for these three pressing issues in healthcare facilities management. We bring on thought leaders and experts from across healthcare facilities management, all the way from the C-suite to the technician level, because at the end of the day, we're all invested in solving the aging issue. Thanks for tuning in. Look at our videos, you will find that is a theme across our content. This is the Healthcare Facilities Network. I'm your host, Peter Martin. So hello and welcome to the Healthcare Facilities Network. I should actually put on the footage of what occurred before we started taping so people could see that this is actually an engineer architect that I'm sitting with. This is this is Jeff O'Neill. I am Peter Martin, host of the Healthcare Facilities Network here on site at the Ashie PDC conference in Houston, Texas. Jeff, who are you?

SPEAKER_03

Who am I? I'm Jeff O'Neill. I'm the Vice President of Plant Operations at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. We're part of the RWJ Barnabas Health Network. We have 13 hospitals, many outpatient, and really serve the patients of New Jersey.

Capital Projects Heading Into 2026

SPEAKER_02

Excellent. Jeff, thank you for appearing. As you may recall, Jeff appeared last year, same PDC conference. Where were we? Atlanta. Atlanta. Atlanta. And so Jeff has kindly joined me today from On-Site. This is day one of the PDC conference. And I want to start out first, Jeff. We went to a session this morning, who actually, somebody from your organization, Kelly Miller, was there, and was talking about some of the biggest issues that healthcare organizations are facing in 2026. They talked about staffing, capital planning, and I can't remember what the third one.

SPEAKER_03

Staffing, capital planning, access to capital transitions on projects, and getting the right teams in place is really the uh focus of that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and so I want to start with Jeff, if you don't mind, with the capital project. So what would you say, Jeff, the state of capital projects is in 2026? Are we moving forward, still in a pause?

SPEAKER_03

What what do you see? So my position at in New Brunswick, uh really, I'm over both capital management there and um facility operations. So deferred maintenance is uh an area that I'm really focused in. We touched on it in that session earlier today, but those are highly impactful, high-cost projects. Um uh harder to do than the new builds that you're seeing a lot of, um, where you're you're basically creating either a new specialty hospital, a new hospital, or at a new site. Um, but working within the existing hospital. We talked a little bit about the deferred maintenance and um uh upgrading what we have. Those are highly disruptive because we still need to maintain operations within the hospital, particularly at a campus like New Brunswick. You can name any um hospital with an active ED, with an active uh any level of trauma program, uh, anyone that's serving a big community. You really need to keep bed availability and nursing um uh efficient in their operations. And when we come in and do these deferred maintenance on systems, particularly at a larger scale, uh, we you really have to pay attention to the level of disruption you're creating. And based on that, that could stretch things out for a very long time because um it it it it it it has a huge effect on the project.

SPEAKER_02

And so are those those disruptions, how do you deal with them?

Managing Disruption During Upgrades

SPEAKER_03

Well, we uh we plan as much as we can and we try and engage the affected groups as best we can as well. We we uh particularly the nursing group, because if I'm taking a group of rooms out of a floor or even an entire floor to do some deferred maintenance, either on an air handler unit, plumbing systems, electrical systems. They have to think about their staffing. They have to think about what does a unit look like if it's if it's a uh 30-bed unit and it's reduced by 10 beds for me to do my thing on these systems. That really affects the nursing ratios. We have to pay attention to that because that's the front line of the care. And we um uh can't really mess with that. And it's all about care efficiency. There are financial impacts to that, to proper staffing and nursing ratios and how we take these beds out. Of course, there's financial implications, but what it really boils down to is how efficient are we delivering the care when we're trying to upgrade these systems.

SPEAKER_02

You are an architect by education and practice, right? When did you transition into the facility opsize?

From Architect To Plant Operations

SPEAKER_03

I actually uh uh at another academic medical center, I transitioned in the middle of a project that I was manager of. It was I was uh it was an ambulatory building, based exam rooms, uh big scale though, where I was the lead project manager. And right in the middle of that, the hospital that this uh down the block it was going to be a facility of this hospital became there was an opening in the director of engineering. So I I had interest in that. And you know, after support from leadership to make the transition, I took that job. And I immediately felt, you know, when I was moving into that new building, what was I thinking on some decisions uh from a maintenance perspective, in order to hit my schedule, to keep my budget, to make decisions within the context of the project and the planning, the big piece was engaging with the facility group and making sure we're making the right decision there. So so very uh important lessons were learned in that transition that I still carry with me today. And that was in 2013. Okay. So it's it's so roughly half my career has been planning and design, the other half has been facility operations, but informing planning and design.

SPEAKER_02

So that's very interesting, that answer. Um I don't know if you saw. We released on the Healthcare Facilities Network um an episode with Dennis Ford, Mike Hatton, Patrick Murphy, and Diana Candler talking about zombies in healthcare. And one of the zombies we talked about was the relationship between PDC and FM and the silos that developed and how we need to your answer was really interesting to me that you know when you jumped over onto the facility app site, it was like a light bulb went off.

SPEAKER_03

Sure, it sure was.

SPEAKER_02

No, so tell me then, if you can think back 13 years ago, like when you were PMing the projects, when you were on the PDC side, what was the like what was the thought of facilities, transition to operate, like all the impacts that you were like, holy cow, what was the thought behind that then?

SPEAKER_03

I I've always I've always felt it was important to engage the facility staff, even when I was at a firm, when I started my career at the VA, I worked in that department. I couldn't help but coordinate with those groups. So I learned early that that coordination is uh primary. The difference is we have a construction schedule, we have regular job meetings, the the projects take on cultures of their own. They get into rhythms of their own.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

The the job meetings. A facility operations group is on a different rhythm. So uh the simple approach is, well, we invited you to the meeting, but you didn't cop. Well, maybe the meeting was at a time that they couldn't cop. Yeah. Or I couldn't get the right person there. So the biggest lesson that I learned at that time was how do I engage on the construction project and keep that going? I thought that if I was taking over, everything was gonna come together and we were all gonna be super happy. But that's not the case at all. The biggest part of my job, and it remains the biggest part of my job, is how do I strike that balance? How do I get the input that I need on the project side to make a good decision that's gonna last after we open the building and make sure that we can maintain it uh efficiently as well to uh and bring those two rhythms together?

Why PDC And Facilities Drift Apart

SPEAKER_02

I love that answer. That's fantastic. And why do you think so I'm not like going beyond your role? Just think because you're obviously you're heavily involved with your Ashy work, you're involved co-incernation, you see a lot from across the country. Sure. Um why do you think that those silos develop between the PDC world and the FM world within the hospitals when projects are going? What's the cause of that to be?

SPEAKER_03

I I'll I'll start by saying it's probably schedule is the um the biggest thing. I can't think of a project I've worked on in the last 15 or 20 years that wasn't quote unquote fast track. Right. Like every project needs to get from development, the the spend of the capital to seeing a patient and providing the care just by the nature of the business, that there's a need. So they need that need. And we on the construction side need to make sure that we deliver when we say we're gonna deliver. So I think because of that dynamic and all the expertise that you have that's coming into a project, uh that developed like that that rhythm of a project that you're moving efficiently in terms of the project itself. Decisions are being made that are being carried forward. We talked a little bit earlier in that session about changes that come and uh uh the clinical groups wanting to make a change, but that's their nature. Yeah. I learned early on from someone that's out at FGI, Dr. Paul Shackelford, told me that, or he told a group that I happen to be sitting in, that a uh a clinical team doesn't respond well to that linear decision making. Like a decision they made three months ago may not stick now because a clinician is always re-evaluating. The situation is always changing with a patient, sometimes every 15 minutes, sometimes every hour, every day. So the mindset is how can I do it better? How can I make this solution better? So in a construction project, I make a decision it's in SDs, schematics. Yeah. By the time I get to DDs, they're like, you know what? I think we can do it better if we do X, Y, or Z. That throws an engineer architect for a loop. Yeah. Oh, you mean I have to go back and now sort of quote unquote redesign. That's where the ad services stack up. But it's that is the core of the uh nature of our clients. Of our, I have clients working where I work in the hospital. It's it's the nursing teams, it's the patients, it's the care teams, it's the doctors, it's the supports, it's the ancillaries, everybody that has a stake in the building is my client, and they think differently, and you have to understand how they think to fit them into the process. You're a psychiatrist, too. Oh my gosh. I don't fancy myself that. I uh I probably need one or two. You are but uh uh but but it uh but it's just uh working with people, understanding who you're working there.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you know what's interesting with that answer when you were talking about schedule, and then you went into um kind of not changing mind, but re-evaluating, I found that, and this is obviously not a society podcast. And I don't know if it's because maybe I'm paying attention a little more now, but I've noticed that people are criticized, whether it's sports, politics, you name it, healthcare, when they make a decision, and you may have clear goals four months ago, but sure, but you change down the road, and it it's sometimes seen as a criticism, but sometimes you're making that change, not for the hell of it, but because you're reevaluating information. And I think sometimes we try to stick people you okay. You originally said this, you got to.

SPEAKER_03

You didn't think of that.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Why didn't you think of that? So uh, but you work with who you're working with, you make the best decisions that you can. And a big part of my job too is if there is a especially a late change in a project, um it's to understand how the decision was made to begin with. Yep. So the big conversation is uh being having uh patience enough to walk that uh the person that's recommending the new change through how we got to where we are. And uh I'm not perfect in that one, but uh I find that developing that understanding helps. Yeah. Uh particularly if someone, especially if it's a long project that wasn't around for that initial decision making, where they feel that they're the quote unquote fresh eyes looking at it, but it's at a point in the project where the fresh eyes uh doesn't have much um leeway to make the change. But bringing them along uh to understand how the way it is and have it make sense is helpful.

SPEAKER_02

Do you find um now that you know you're on the facility app side, the architectural side, is there one side you like more than the other? You still like it both?

Transition To Operations Starts Early

SPEAKER_03

I still like it both because one informs the other. Right. I I mean, um uh seeing the at the PDC, the student challenge, um it just so invigorating to see new solutions coming in, new mindsets, and and trying to solve uh these problems that way. One informs the other. Uh bringing folks along to get into a new building, the excitement of a new building um of coming in. Uh sometimes the uh it's excitement leads to frenzy where uh you know everybody wants to do the right thing and make it the most optimal space possible. But I I I really uh in my vision of my career, I love where I am because I can work with both ends. And and even when I originally did make the switch, I never sort of completely left the Capitol, but found that the work is getting those folks together, and that's what I really enjoy that way, yeah, is to make sure that that uh balance uh and those rhythms can come together at some way.

SPEAKER_02

You talked about deferred maintenance kind of right at the very beginning, but before we jump to deferred maintenance, I want to go back. So you missed the Ashy Innovation Conference because you were opening a new building in the summertime. So you mentioned transition to operations in your last answer. Tell me, like, what are one or two things from that transition to operations when you open up were there aha moments, or was there anything that stuck out as you guys operated that new building as you opened it up and started to see patients?

SPEAKER_03

I think that you know, as you open a new building, you're working with your team, and it's a pretty finite team up to a certain point. When you get into the transition operations, more and more people are laying eyes on it, more and more people are becoming familiar with it, more and more people are coming in that worked in a particular setting for about 20 years that have a certain way that they've worked. So uh I'm a fan that, you know, what made me open my eyes was that that transition planning starts way before you're the building's ready to walk through in a tour. That the uh there's a lot you can do in existing space to start change mindsets, pick up on ideas that came out in the design and implement them in their existing space. I think that that's always a big opportunity, a ch a huge challenge, but get people thinking about it early on, and then they can come into the building.

SPEAKER_02

Is that, Jeff, even over and above a mock-up? Oh, yeah. Without do your mock-ups, but then you also get them out during the yeah.

SPEAKER_03

The mock-up even still seems like it's this sort of little playground that we get to move things around. But then I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna do it the way I've done it for the last 20 years. So it's breaking the boundary of the mock-up and starting to implement really just operational changes that maybe doesn't require a lot of construction, but just helps change the mindset, will get people thinking a little better coming into the building and bring them in. We we tried that. Uh, we had success in some areas and maybe not as much success in others, but it just stuck out to me that the importance of that exercise really has a lot to do with the success coming into a building.

SPEAKER_02

Does that exercise, did that exercise create some fr, we're all human, but did that create some frustration on the part of either you or the project team kind of like bringing in that clinical? Or did you guys always see, and it's kind of like the keynote that we heard this morning, did you keep your eyes on the final prize you were looking for? Listen, we need this input now so that we're not dealing with these frustrations when the building opens up.

The Parking Lot And Leadership Support

SPEAKER_03

Well, we um uh the eye on the prize concept was sort of the beacon that we followed. So we picked our shots. We we took the um uh we got a lot of feedback in the transition. Um uh I ran a lot of lists from there from different uh folks. And then from a leadership perspective, I had a ton of great people I was working with. Uh, as that building got staffed up, the leadership was amazing to work with where we were able to prioritize and to say what's important. Uh compliance for DOH approval was primary. Does it threaten that? If it threatened that, then we needed to make a change, uh, which were few and far between because we we pretty largely had a compliant design. Um, very, very small things. But then there was the level of operation on if it met up with the goals and the expectations of the broader leadership team. So so having that team to discern all that is um huge. Yeah. And also not do too much uh in the early uh in the run-up because some of it may come in sort of a panic. So having support, and this is huge. I had support when I said I don't want to make that change, let's give it time after we move in, and we can revisit it. We're actually starting to revisit some of that list now because we're going on a year.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Uh everyone settled in, and uh, and I could say that a lot of that list sort of went away because because people are the sort of then they're in it, they're living in it, they're picking up on what we were laying down, and uh we're able to function, but some things stick. Yep. So you have to be ready for that too.

SPEAKER_02

If you like this video, please like and subscribe to the network. And more importantly, share it with your colleagues in the healthcare industry. Together, we can solve the aging crisis that's impacting all of us. I haven't done project management in a long time, fortunately. I did the recording how I do this, which is a lot more fun because I get to talk to you and hear your issues. But um, I just still remember when we were doing those projects, when you open them up. I remember getting the email after email and the calls, and and everybody wants something. And I remember it creates frustration on the project team, and then sometimes you have the people, all right, I'm gonna take care of it just to get you off my back. Right. That's a great piece of advice to have that support to kind of parking lot it and then revisit it because it is a very emotional time.

SPEAKER_03

It's emotional you don't know the space. We heard from our keynote speaker today about, you know, tough conversations and procrastination, a form of procrastination. Oh, yeah, just do it to shut this individual up or whatever. But that could be a huge mistake because and the rigor we put into it, uh Um, I called it a parking lot. Uh people got sick of hearing about my parking lot. But I had support from key leaders to say, just we're gonna give it time and get, you know, settle in, do what you need to do. And I could tell you, if we made changes on the fly, a lot of them would have been put back to the original. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So um people do come around. And that that's a faith thing. That that's a uh that's a very extremely difficult conversation to tell somebody no, we're not gonna do their idea, that in their mind they think they absolutely have to have. That's where my code compliance pieces come in. Having the regulatory team help me with that is awesome. Uh, like I said, the leadership uh man, uh uh uh I'd I build another one with that same group. So it just but that level of support and coordination with that leadership was huge.

SPEAKER_02

How difficult was it for you to get that support from up above? What was your messaging to them?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I think that it was uh I I so I'm lucky in that I have a receptive leadership. I don't think lucky, like I've I'm sure there's tons of it around everywhere, but just being uh clear, being above board, keeping them informed on the issues, um uh uh keeping them engaged in the project, it's not just something going on across the street, uh, all paved the way to get uh good support. Uh uh understand having that team understand how the decisions were made and the zeitgeist to the project also helps uh that they understand what's going on. So if I'm fielding changes from people that are just sort of coming into that transition process, uh you have to keep in mind they they don't have the history of the project. They weren't there at SDs, they weren't there through the life of the project and those uh the or rhythm of that project, they're coming in sort of in a different time. So the so there's that kind of patience you mean to have too.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's why project work is is so multifaceted, right? You're talking about basically a project historian to you kind of because you're always going back and okay, these are what I myself came to the project after it was designed and approved by the state.

SPEAKER_03

So when I started in 22, everyone thought I was gonna come in and start making changes, but my main questions are what are the key principles of this project? What do I need to promote to keep it going to in the direction that we're already in? I I understood that we were not at a point where we could make changes.

SPEAKER_02

That's a great leadership style because I'm sure everybody, I'm sure you've dealt with it. I've dealt with it. I'll be everybody listening as dealt with it when you have somebody who comes onto a project team and may very well be qualified to be on that project. You are, without question. But your approach, you know, and they come and shoot, right? Because they think it's almost we gotta change things. Right. But that approach is the exact opposite.

Good Fast Cheap And Unreal Schedules

SPEAKER_03

So and it's a di it's a discipline. Yes. It's a uh just knowing where you are in that that uh culture of that project and understand the goals of uh uh and not insignificantly the schedule that everyone's keeping an eye on, especially a big investment like that. Um uh yeah, you really have to approach it that way.

SPEAKER_02

That was such a huge um they talked about that this morning, project schedule, and this could really be a uh a podcast unto itself, but so many of these project schedules are unrealistic from the get-go. And you're sure, and you're just on it, and that does not cause that causes repercussions down the road.

SPEAKER_03

Well, yeah, I have uh in my office, I have something, and um I'm gonna do this slowly because I I always trip over it, but we offer three kinds of services good, fast, and cheap. But you can only have two at a time. Good and good and fast is not cheap. If you want it fast, you're gonna pay a premium for the schedule. Yep. Fast and good. I'm sorry, yeah. Fast and good. Good cheap. Uh see, I'm already screwed. Well, cheap and fast you could do, but it's not gonna be good. Cheap and fast will not be good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And um uh good and cheap. Good and cheap will not be fast.

SPEAKER_00

I like that.

SPEAKER_03

So I read it better off my wall, but I don't have it on. That's why I keep it on my wall.

SPEAKER_02

We can superimpose it back on you. That's right.

SPEAKER_03

That's right.

How To Prioritize Deferred Maintenance

SPEAKER_02

So just a couple more questions because sure Jeff has to eat, and I I do want to uh get him out of here, but let's go to deferred maintenance for a sec. Sure. If you if if you don't mind. It's not sexy like the guys we're talking about this morning. Right. It's difficult to get funds. Right. It goes against the mantra of fast, fast, fast, I would think, too, right? Because no so how do you you've identified deferred maintenance, it's a priority for you. How did you get there? How do you manage deferred maintenance? What's your sequence loss if you have it?

SPEAKER_03

So um there's a there is no one with a bottomless pit of money. Um most people think capital projects is like Santa Claus coming to town that you ask and you receive. But when you're uh discerning uh deferred maintenance budgets and capital budgets, uh you you're I I learned from I've had many people that I consider mentors. Uh one said to budget is to choose. So what you're doing is you're choosing the highest priority system that needs replacement. What's eminent in failure? Uh there's a risk factor to it as well. Like how impactful will assist a failure on this be to operations? Because the key thing with hospital facility operations is to minimize disruption to care. So if I have systems that are keenly failing, like the uh uh uh the VISA award winner from uh Morris. Um they had frequent power outages that was affecting care. And and so that's a driver to do an intervention that they did by creating a plan. We did some similar things on our campus uh because of the age of the infrastructure. And and I could tell you from even the board level, they're very interested in the infrastructure of the existing hospital. Almost uh really as as much as any new development coming. So that's a credit. Uh so it is, and we're lucky to have a strong board that way that understands that, and uh and therefore the support comes, but it's not an unlimited support. The resources get lined up, it's up to us to implement and execute and make sure that we do it in an efficient way that we talked about already, that doesn't, you know, uh put too big of a burden on on the care mission. Yeah.

Practical AI Uses In Facilities

SPEAKER_02

Um, last question, Jeff. I I have to ask you about AI. How do you see it evolving? How how uh how are you into are you integrating it number one now? And how do you see that evolving? How do you you know we're here at the PDC? I actually took account, I thought there would be more classes like with an AI focus to them. And there weren't, there were some, not a ton. How do you see it playing out over the coming years?

SPEAKER_03

Uh, you know, and I I'll I'll say just from my little world in New Brunswick, there we're really not doing much with AI itself as to say, you know, that's where we're turning that over to AI, where I see opportunity, uh it and if if this is even possible, some predictive analysis on those deferred maintenance projects to help me prioritize. Yeah. Like AI may pick up on something that I'm not, and I huddle with my facility team, when I huddle with our infrastructure capital folks at the corporate level. Uh, how does AI inform that? Um uh I I uh see AI having a role when we're talking about maybe more highly technical things, things that are more factually based that you were that are backed by science uh from a design standpoint. Um the AI is only as good as the information that it's looking at. So uh what kind of quality measures are are are considered there. So uh I I see it coming more for our systems just to help us boost monitoring. Like I talked about an example the other day in our uh uh evidence-based design class where you know for from a security system, you see cameras everywhere, but they're they're used more for investigation purposes, not really to protect you in the moment. But could AI assist as being that person that's watching hundreds of cameras to see something unusual going on and then bring a focus to somebody to start to dispatch security to a certain area, sudden movements, groups of people coming together very quickly, uh people moving in a sharp way to suggest they were pushed or hit.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You know, it could could AI help with that and understand those movements. That's one example that I could see AI not not taking somebody's job, not taking um uh uh our place, but to help fill those gaps that we talk about all the time, that we just don't have a solution for, even if I had all the personnel available in the world to do it. Uh but uh but things like those safety elements, how can AI help buttress our responses and shorten the time to get to somebody in an issue that way? So uh uh like I said, we're we're really not diving in in certain ways, but you know, you see everything, and how can it help? Those are some of my thoughts on how it can help.

SPEAKER_02

And that's an interesting uh answer. I was thinking as you were talking about the AI and where where it can help, I was also thinking back to the beginning of our conversation and everything you talked about. Because the fear is AI's gonna take my job, every AI's gonna take the job, but especially a think in healthcare facilities, and maybe being a little bit um parochial with it, but the human touch that you employ, the way you deal with the clinicians, the way you bring the project together, that that's a skill. And not everybody's got it. And I don't know that AI do that.

SPEAKER_03

Because at the end of the day, that's the thing that makes the saying is that uh AI is more like a tool than to um uh uh uh gobble up FTEs. There may be some interest uh industries that it does, like financial analytics, even in my early career uh as an architect working in a firm in a print room um and remember what they are, you know, you're running things through. But I also did a lot of submittal review and I also did a lot of filing. And now that all those files are electronic, the AI might do that, just organize it for you and tee it up. And so so I see it more as a tool. And if you're entry-level in a career, you need to know how to run the tool. Yep, yep. So so from a that may be a small, like almost short-sighted vision, but that uh at least I could see that as the next step for AI in our industry.

SPEAKER_02

So when you're talking about the plans, there's like remember you'd get the big plans delivered to your project office and you'd kind of they were bound, you cut it open, they'd follow. It's kind of fun having stages.

SPEAKER_03

And I had to you you put them in the diazo machine with the ammonia in your inner room without a window, with a fake little fan that's acting as an exhaust. And you printed them out, you rolled them up, and you drove them out to the state, and you had to lay them out. They sat there and reviewed it that way. That wasn't too long ago. Change that. But uh uh yeah, so so those are the things and and and actually just seeing uh the uh student challenge. These kids are ready for a higher level than running prints and filing submittals. They they're uh uh they're they're fake game. Yeah, we want to have we want to harness that, we want to get them the tools to be able to do that.

Closing Thoughts And How To Join

SPEAKER_02

Well, it was funny. My son, my youngest son, Patrick, is a uh he's a construction manager major at Virginia Tech. He's a freshman and he wants to do an internship. And he just came home for spring break and he said to me, like he's been doing the data, he's been doing some of the PM stuff, we're kind of learning about it. He's like, Dad, I don't think I want to be a PM. He's like, I'm not really big on the data, the Excel spreadsheet, the input. He's like, I think I want to be a super. And so interesting. I said to him, you know what? It's all there. You just kind of investigate it, and you're gonna sound hands-on. But I would never be thinking that probably. At 18, that was not my thought. But, anyways, Jeff O'Neill. Jeff needs to eat. I appreciate you. You're always always a pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for having me. My pleasure. Jeff O'Neill, vice president. RWJ New Brunswick Campus. RWJ Barnabas. New Brunswick Cannabis. I always forget the Barnabas. Sorry if I forget the Barnabas, man. My bosses will get named at. I tried to get you in trouble. Peter Martin for the Healthcare Facilities Network, thank you for watching. We'll be back with a future episode. Take care. If you want to be a guest on a future episode of the Healthcare Facilities Network, go to Healthcare Facilities Network.com and let us know who you are and what you want to talk about. Because together we can solve this critical aging issue.