Miami Proud: Meet "Mr. Imperial Point," the heart of Broward Health Imperial Point
MIAMI - Doctors, nurses, and technicians seemingly run things in hospitals, including Broward Health Imperial Point in Fort Lauderdale.
But the heart of the organization may just be Steve Fredrickson, or, as he's commonly referred to 'Mr. Steve' or 'Mr. Imperial Point.' He has worked here since the beginning in 1973.
We met Fredrickson who is the current regional manager of facilities services, to hear about his long career, and what makes him a favorite among the staff.
He seems to know everyone and interacts on every floor.
He does have a lot of responsibilities.
"Any construction, the upkeep of the preventative maintenance of all the equipment the facility," Fredrickson shared.
He rose up the ranks from a humble beginning.
"My first job was mopping the floor and stocking the shelves and stuff like that for the environmental services department," he shares.
He worked his way up to housekeeping supervisor, to manager, and then to his current role, he has played a huge part in major milestones for the hospital.
"Everything from renovating the elevator lobby to building a new emergency room, of course, I had a lot of help," he said.
It's not an easy job.
"When my phone rings in the office it's not somebody telling me there's a bundle of roses for me out in the lobby. It is usually more toilet overflowed the lights don't work or whatever. That's what we are here for in the bad news business."
But it's how he treats others that sets him apart. Just ask Michael Huempfner, the associate administrator of the hospital who has known him for about five years.
"To say he's probably one of the most influential and inspiring people I've met during my entire career is not an understatement. This hospital could not function without Steve," he said.
As he walks through the halls he speaks to almost everyone, including a housekeeping staff member cleaning the baseboards, he stops to ask how she is doing and commends her on doing a good job.
He has come full circle from how the head of the hospital impacted him when he was a housekeeper.
He points out a photo of the administrator back in the day and recalls the interaction.
"I knew he was a bigwig doctor but for him to take out of his time to pat me on the back and tell me -you are doing a good job, while pushing a mop, it meant a lot to me. I always made a point to carry on that with others as well," Fredrickson reflects.
He handles all his work with great care.
From routine room inspections to launching a massive foot race event for the whole hospital on Federal Highway, special events and then more recently to protecting staff during COVID-19.
"If you saw the poor nurses that had to go in and out of those rooms," he recalled.
"Our job in maintenance was to provide a negative pressure room so they weren't going in bringing [the virus] back out again. And we had to do it big time where we usually had five isolation rooms and I needed 45 isolation rooms and it was quite a challenge," he said.
Fredrickson has been up for each challenge and shared his simple formula for success.
"You can do just about anything if you have a good attitude and you really work hard, and really care about what you're doing, and you show that."
Although he's definitely eligible to retire, Fredrickson said he is not ready, he feels there is work to do. And as the hospital marks it 50th, he's excited about some items he placed in a time capsule that he says should be fun when they open this fall.
