In this second episode of our series from the MDExpo in Las Vegas, NV, I enjoyed engaging conversations with various vendors and HTM professionals. I had the chance to interview 12 guests, bringing the total to 21 guests over both days at the MDExpo. I'm thankful to each of them for joining me. Looking forward to connecting with even more people in future episodes on HTM On The Line podcast.
Guest on this episode:
Kelly Thakkar, Walter Moyer, Kim Rowland, Adrianna England, Ryan Sanders, Lisa Gonzalez, Lesley Harrington, Maria Denson, Adriana Martinez, Karina Deniz, Tim Keohane, Rick Walston.
This podcast is sponsored by The College of Biomedical Equipment Technology. You can find out more information about this outstanding institution at CBET.EDU.
In this second episode of our series from the MDExpo in Las Vegas, NV, I enjoyed engaging conversations with various vendors and HTM professionals. I had the chance to interview 12 guests, bringing the total to 21 guests over both days at the MDExpo. I'm thankful to each of them for joining me. Looking forward to connecting with even more people in future episodes on HTM On The Line podcast.
Guest on this episode:
Kelly Thakkar, Walter Moyer, Kim Rowland, Adrianna England, Ryan Sanders, Lisa Gonzalez, Lesley Harrington, Maria Denson, Adriana Martinez, Karina Deniz, Tim Keohane, Rick Walston.
This podcast is sponsored by The College of Biomedical Equipment Technology. You can find out more information about this outstanding institution at CBET.EDU.
All right, it's day two at Indy Expo. I'm sitting here with a representative from Zopec Medical. Introduce yourself, please.
Karina Deniz:Hi, I'm Karina Denez. I'm a product engineer at Zopec Medical.
Bryant Hawkins:So, Karina, thanks for sitting down with me. What is Zopec Medical about?
Karina Deniz:So Zopec Medical is really? We are a battery company and so we're based in Blaine, minnesota. Right now I have with me the UPS 90 Pure, which is one of our featured products. It's a hospital grade UPS battery. It's the smallest UPS battery that uses technology such as lithium ion battery, same as Tesla. Lithium ion battery Same as Tesla. It has no maintenance, lasts 8 to 12 years and is FAA approved and FDA approved, and it allows to just back up and power medical devices and is very, very reliable.
Bryant Hawkins:Great man. So just so I can understanding this device can be used with respiratory medical equipment like ventilators. What type of equipment could be plugged into that at the same time?
Karina Deniz:Yeah. So that's a really great question because the thing is is that this is a really great just backup battery in general. So right now we have a really great in with respiratory therapists. So right now we have a really great in with respiratory therapists, but really we want to expand in so many different departments because it can back up so many different medical devices. So we have an AirVo2 with us today, but we also back up the MR850. Along with the AirVo2, a lot of people use aerogen so you can plug that in as well at the same time and just depending on the speculations, this device can base or this battery can just basically back up any device that has a maximum draw output of 500 watts and then anything that kind of falls within that region. You can just kind of just plug and go.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great. Okay then, noam, you mentioned y'all had other products, just like it varies in what size of the batteries, or different products altogether.
Karina Deniz:Oh right, right, right, yeah. So different sizes of batteries. So right now, like our UPS90 Pure, it's five pounds and it's the world's smallest UPS battery that is medical grade. And so basically, if you want our battery to back up maybe, let's say, a thousand watts, so we would need like a bigger battery for that, and that's what I mean by different products. So then you would have like a bigger battery, still way less than the 50 pound trip light batteries that you deal with. And then, yeah, and then you go and basically support that device with that said battery.
Bryant Hawkins:Awesome, Great. Now where is your office located? Corporate office.
Karina Deniz:Oh, we are located in the beautiful Blaine Minnesota.
Bryant Hawkins:Do y'all cover what United States? What's y'all range?
Karina Deniz:Right. So we are a startup and I think that gives us a lot of power where we want to go. So we have been reaching out to so many different states, so many different hospitals across the country, as well as being implemented and looking at distributors that are across the country. So the great thing I think that's so amazing about our company is that we have built batteries, but it's not just for the US. So the US has 120 volts that you usually plug and play, so you usually go and see 240 volts in other countries and then 100 volts in Japan.
Karina Deniz:We've made batteries for those things and we're currently testing and trialing them out, um and and testing them with the equipment known so Airvos, um, hamilton and stuff like that, um, and so we really want to reach every corner of the world, because people will come to us from different countries and say how much they need our product, how much they actually, um, really like, would need that support, and, honestly, we I think I talked to someone from India last week and then the week before that I talked to someone in Ireland and the week before that I talked to someone in the United Kingdom. So there is a really great outreach with this product. People need reliable backup support systems, especially when it comes to transporting patient care, transport helicopters, planes, rigs, everything and they really do need that support, because what you see with the other UPS devices is that they will fail, and this battery does not.
Bryant Hawkins:Awesome, so tell the HTM community how can we get in contact with you guys?
Karina Deniz:Oh my gosh. Well, you will probably either see Strong in person, because he is literally everywhere, or um. We have a zopec medical page, so it's at zopecmedicalcom um what z-o-p-e c? Yeah, yes and um, and usually you can reach out to me or to will or to another product engineer, but most people go through the cs at zopeccom email. That's the customer service, so we usually get outputs for that, or there is also, I think, another email listed on there, but usually we typically go to the cs at zopeccom.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great. Well, it was great talking to you, karina. I appreciate the time you spent with me. Wish you guys all the best.
Karina Deniz:Oh, thank you, Thank you All right, it's day two.
Bryant Hawkins:We're at the MD Expo. I'm sitting here with Walt Moyer from CM Parts Plus. How are you doing today, walt?
Walter Moyer:I'm doing all right, brian. How are you doing man great, so well, talk to me. Cm Parts Plus. What is that all about? So we're an MRI depot repair facility in Winston-Salem, north Carolina. We primarily repair MRI components, the high voltage stuff, rf amplifiers, gradient amplifiers. We are. What we are not is a parts vendor. We don't sell parts, we don't stock parts, we don't have an inventory. What we do is you send us a defective part and we repair it and send it back to you so you have it ready for the next time you need it.
Bryant Hawkins:What region do you cover in the United States?
Walter Moyer:We cover the whole United States and we have international customers.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh great, Wow. So how long has you been doing this business here? How long have you been in business?
Walter Moyer:It was an existing company. We took over in June of 2020, right in the heart of COVID. Yeah and yeah, we haven't looked back. We're growing. This year we expanded our square footage. We went from we basically doubled our square footage. We have 10,000 square feet. We've purchased a Siemens Avanto test system. We're in the process of purchasing a GE 450 test system, so we can we test everything we repair. These systems will allow us to put it into a system and test it that way.
Bryant Hawkins:But yeah, so that's awesome. So if you could talk to the HTM industry, tell them what would make CM Parts Plus the go-to vendor for their needs. What would you tell them? Why would they want to come to you? Then your counterparts what?
Walter Moyer:would you tell them why would they want to come to you? Then your counterparts, if they're, if they're with an organization that is is independent of the OEM, for one thing Right and I think this whole MD Expo is is independent folks. If they're independent of the OEMs and they have some inventory of parts, then we would be the guys that they would send their defective parts to to repair, so they have good parts on the shelf for when they need it. Generally what we do, though, is we do repairs for the parts vendors. When they sell a part on exchange, they get the defective part back. If it's something that's in demand, then they'll contact us to repair it for them, so they can put it back on the shelf for the next sale.
Bryant Hawkins:Right right Now. How can they contact CM Parts Plus.
Walter Moyer:So the absolute best way is on our website, cmpartspluscom, and uh, it it's, uh. You can go on there. You can uh put in a request for, for a quote, let us know you know what's going on, what you have, what's going on with it, and and we'll get back in touch with you, probably the same day, depending on when we get the email. And yeah, the other way is to give us a call and all of our contact information is on our website.
Bryant Hawkins:Right, right. Well, thanks for your time, Walt. I appreciate you stopping by. I wish you nothing but success, sir.
Walter Moyer:Thank you All right, Thank you Brian.
Bryant Hawkins:Okay, we're back. I have another special guest with me. It's my brother from another mother. I'm going to try to keep it as formal as I can. I'm sitting here with Brian Sanders. How are you doing today, sir?
Ryan Sanders:I'm doing amazing.
Bryant Hawkins:Glad to be here. I'm glad you're here too, man.
Ryan Sanders:So what you been up to lately, ryan? Well, md Expo. Hey, we're excited. We're having fun, doing quite a bit of networking, doing quite a bit of learning more about how our industry evolves, and then back home in the mainstay and we're just moving leaps and bounds in Southeast Texas to make for great, safe medical equipment and a good program. Is this your first MD Expo? It's not my first MD Expo. I've actually been to a number of MD Expos. I've had the pleasure of being a guest speaker and presenter and, of course, always enjoy seeing all my friends in the industry.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, it's like a little family reunion around here at times.
Ryan Sanders:That's right.
Bryant Hawkins:Have you taken any classes since you've been here or you've been stuck in meetings?
Ryan Sanders:A little of both, but I have taken some classes. Some of the classes that I've taken have been things that are just reminders. Right, you know these things, but you see them on the board and it reminds you. But there were some other gems out there as well. I think Heidi Horn's presentation was very meaningful as well. She had a really nice element on the evolution of a hospital department's control of what a CE program should look like, and I just found that amazing of what a CE program should look like and I just found that amazing.
Bryant Hawkins:So, ryan, tell me a little about your journey in the HTM industry. You don't have to go into no play-by-play. Give me a quick summary, because we don't have five minutes and 10 minutes here.
Ryan Sanders:Well, I'll tell you, it all started when I was born. My mother, no, look. I got into this business about 20 plus years ago, 25 years ago and it's been. It's been amazing for me. I know I've worked closely with you, bryant, but you know, from cutting my teeth as a biomed and field service, moving through the ranks from a leadership perspective and now being a vice president. Being a vice president, it's just. It's just been an amazing journey and I love having influence for the industry and also receiving the influence of others, including you.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh, I appreciate that. I like what you just said about. Even though you've been in the industry so long and you've reached such a level, you still humble enough to say that you are still learning.
Ryan Sanders:Absolutely.
Bryant Hawkins:Some people may get to a point where they feel they don't have to learn anything new. Do you have any certifications?
Ryan Sanders:in the industry? I do. I have a certified health care technology manager, certified biomed, and I'm also, a long time ago, a certified electronics technician on top of it. That's great.
Bryant Hawkins:You cover all the bases, huh yeah. So let me ask you what is one of the most? What is what you call your best achievement in the industry so far in your career?
Ryan Sanders:If you had to say one thing, I would say Improvement of quality within the facilities that I've had the pleasure of going in and working with and you know some of the big ones, really you know we could talk about them. I mean the major hospital system that you and I were part of in Florida, right, you know, to be able to go in and feel the confidence that together we can all work together and make something that maybe is in a medium state or maybe less than medium state into something that's really great. That means a lot to me and it changes not only that program and the patient safety of the equipment, but it changes the people's lives that work in those departments too, and that's a big deal to me.
Bryant Hawkins:That's great. So you're a person that's always a student of this industry. Where do you see the HTM industry going in your perspective? Because it's changing almost look like monthly. So what's your picture in the next let's just say a year, not five years.
Ryan Sanders:Certainly Look. I think in a year you're going to see more and more of the technology integration, more and more of the technology integration where your typical old school great biomed will also need to evolve with that. I think the lines between IT and biomed are becoming more and more blurred and I think, from our perspective, where we're going to be stellar is to be that amazing hardware, electronics technician, service engineer that we all are at our core but combining in a real knack knowledge for the IT industry, including cybersecurity, of course, and integration and everything it does with it.
Bryant Hawkins:Well said. Now, before we finish, I just want to always ask the interviewers if you could just share some information with the HTM industry. What would you like to share with them? A little advice. If you had to give something that any level can take to heart and utilize, what would you say?
Ryan Sanders:I would say that, no matter what position you're in in this business, it's important to be self-reflective and take a moment to pause, really, think about why do you love what you do. Because it will provide you a guiding light in those tough moments where you can reference back and say, well, today's not the day that's been a great day at work. But the reason that I do this is because I know what I love about this business and about my career, and that's whatever your career progression is.
Bryant Hawkins:Well said. Thank you, Brian. As always, my brother, good to spend time with you.
Ryan Sanders:Absolutely.
Bryant Hawkins:Take care, brother.
Ryan Sanders:Fantastic.
Bryant Hawkins:Okay, I'm sitting here with another good friend of mine, Miss Maria Denson. How you doing, Maria?
Maria Denson:Hello, hello, they're doing fabulous. Thank you very much for having me here. How are you?
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, your friend want to join us.
Maria Denson:Adriana, would you like to join?
Bryant Hawkins:She comes down here and she's taking pictures. We got another one. There's two of them, so who are you and what's your name?
Adriana Martinez:My name is Adriana Martinez. I work for Mobile Medical Technologies.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great, great so Maria.
Maria Denson:Yes, sir, let's get to it. How you been. I've been great. This was a really good turnout. It's a very good show. Yes, so tell me about yourself and what you contribute to this HTM industry. So a little bit about myself. I started in the industry about 15 years ago. I started doing office administration just invoices, just regular admin stuff, worked my way into part sales, project management, and now I'm learning engineering. I've been doing an engineering work for about four years and my ultimate goal is to say that I am a full-blown engineer that can troubleshoot systems and resolve errors. I work with Scanning Technologies. Scanning Technologies is owned by several partners that have been in the industry for many, many years, even though Scanning Technologies is just starting out. We're one year old and we've been hitting the ground running.
Bryant Hawkins:I still can't forget that icon picture with you standing on top of the MRI with the steam coming out. Oh, not steam, what was that?
Maria Denson:Yeah, we were doing a helium pill.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, that's amazing so it's liquid helium. So, adriana, what about yourself there? How long you've been in the industry?
Adriana Martinez:I've been in the industry for about four years, I started a similar. I have a similar background with her. I started as a warehouse manager warehouse inventory. From warehouse inventory moved up to warehouse manager. So, as the cool thing about warehouse manager, you learn the parts as you go. So I started like, okay, well, the engineer needs this, he also might need this, and that's all from learning the parts itself, which is really cool. I'm more GE, maria is more Siemens. So after Finder, I moved up to sales for mobile medical technologies and there we do the trailer refurbs, trailer service, the HVAC, trailer generator, anything that has to do with the trailers we do. So we serve as a trailer, maria serves as a system. So that's a good way to work together absolutely so.
Bryant Hawkins:This is not your first MD Expo, is it?
Maria Denson:No, no. I started MD Expo I would say solid nine years ago.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh wow, what about you, Adrienne?
Adriana Martinez:I would say this is my third Expo.
Bryant Hawkins:Oh okay, how do you think it's going so far?
Adriana Martinez:This has been a great outcome.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah.
Adriana Martinez:Yeah, I mean, yesterday was a lot of people, today is a lot of people still.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, great. Where do y'all see MRI going?
Maria Denson:MRI world hasn't at least from the last that I've seen it hasn't really changed much.
Maria Denson:There's a lot of industries, a lot of companies that are still strong in the industry getting bought out, new ones coming in, but for the most part it's the same. What I do see that's changed is the social media and the exposure that everybody's receiving. For so many years it's been a hidden industry. It was a hidden gem, so the owners would bring in their friends, their family, their kids. Now we're growing. The industry itself is growing. We're getting more publicity, we're getting more exposure, whether it's podcasts like yourself and getting the name out there, whether it's educational courses, career days and I love to see that and a lot more women in the industry too. When I first started, the women for the most part were doing just the trade shows. It was like the token ladies to bring in the attention for the trade shows. And now there are so many that are in leadership and decision-making and they're actually making the change within the HTM and that's really cool to watch and I kind of want to add on to that.
Adriana Martinez:It's all thanks to you, you know going back to how she said exposure. I appreciate what you do. I was talking to Maria. I was like I wish I would have met someone like you back when I was in high school, cause I actually have a BA in criminal justice. But now that I'm in this industry I'm like I'm intrigued here and I want to learn more. I want more from here. So my BA is on the side, not being used and I wish I knew about this whole industry right first out of high school.
Bryant Hawkins:Hey, it's great so.
Adriana Martinez:I really appreciate what you do because I know you guys went to New Orleans, so it was really cool.
Bryant Hawkins:Well, you got to come next time.
Bryant Hawkins:Definitely, come next time, definitely, I mean it's that's what, to me, that it's all about, and I believe in my heart of heart, the more you give, the more you get, and this industry has been great to me. So my thing is, I want to give back, and that's good. You guys like that, because I noticed on the internet you all are very active with cmia. So what do y'all do since, since we're talking about CMIA, what's some of the joy y'all get from going to a CMIA meeting, dealing with the kids there?
Maria Denson:We recently joined, so we haven't yet been exposed to a lot of the CMIA events Okay, okay.
Maria Denson:But, just again, the exposure that they bring. So for the next generation, the career dance events that Byron has put together and the social media campaigns that they bring so for the next generation. The career dance events that Byron has put together and the social media campaigns that they're talking about and putting together is going to be in effect fairly soon. So getting young kids involved and interested in our industry, getting them involved in the technical aspect of it, that it doesn't just have to be. You know, sales are fantastic, sales is personality and that's always going to get you life. But the technical expertise from my perspective is going to provide that stability in a career choice for many, many years to come.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, let me tell you this the drive y'all have for it, how you feel how much you wish you would have before, use that when you talk to the kids. See, look, I have a BA and I'm not even using it because this is where my calling is. I mean, we don't know. That's why it's kind of challenging for the kids at 17 to say what you want to do, but you can tell them. You might not know what you want to do, but just do this until you figure it out. And if they see how much you care and like it, I guarantee you, because they don't know. You saw what was in the walls. The kids was like, why not? And that just shows that you're doing something that's right. So, and I'm here for you Anything you need, call me.
Adriana Martinez:Thank you, thank you.
Bryant Hawkins:I'll try to send out to you on my list so you get my information. She gets it so.
Adriana Martinez:Yeah, I just. I mean, I just met Maria in December. Oh really, I've been told she's been in the industry for many, many years. Yeah, we actually met at a trailer inspection.
Bryant Hawkins:Come on.
Adriana Martinez:And when I met her I was like dang, I think I just met my new mentor. Aw, yeah, Ever since then, unfortunately, my other job I worked for I had a layoff, so I wasn't working for a bit and then Maria reached out. I was like hey, I know someone's looking for a sales manager Are. I reached out like hey, I know someone's looking for a sales manager, Are you interested? And I was like heck, yeah, and that means I'm staying in the industry. Of course, you know, Absolutely.
Adriana Martinez:So, ever since then she's been, you know, helping me out. Was it like under her wing, type of thing?
Bryant Hawkins:Mm-hmm, because the deal about being a good mentor mentee, it has to be interchange. Now she could be mentoring you, but at the same time you could be mentoring her. It's not a good relationship if it's always a giving only. So if she's mentoring you, hopefully you show her your appreciation by the way you do your job, the way you pick up on things. So that's what I always tell the mentee Don't just take, take, take. Figure out ways to give back.
Maria Denson:And it's a lot easier definitely to mentor and help someone along the way who's interested and who's passionate about learning. And you can't teach that, you can't tell somebody like, get excited, and Adriana's excited about this industry, and that's what I love the most, because all these years in I'm still very much passionate about what we do.
Bryant Hawkins:You have to evolve. I'm 31 years and still like I've been in two years. You have to stay like that because if not, you get stagnant, and nobody wants to be stagnant to me.
Adriana Martinez:Well, I appreciate you guys coming to talk with me, Maria and.
Bryant Hawkins:Andrea, I said your name Adriana. Adriana, yes, I'm going to say Andrea. I keep wanting to put that N in there. It's no N, but I appreciate you guys and man. I wish you the best. If you need me, you know how to contact me, I got you.
Walter Moyer:Thank you very much how are you doing, sir, doing?
Tim Keohane:awesome. Thanks for coming Sit down there for a minute. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Bryant Hawkins:Let's tell the listeners who you are and who you're working with.
Tim Keohane:Sure, so my name is Tim Cohane, the vice have a small niche product. It's a gas indicator. It tells you the anesthetic concentration coming out of vaporizer to make sure the vaporizer is working properly. The story of my company actually starts with my grandparents. My grandfather is an extremely smart man, inventor, entrepreneur, really well known in the anesthesia community. He owned multiple patents on different human vaporizers. And my grandmother, she was the sales rep. She had the gift to gab. They were a dynamic duo.
Tim Keohane:My grandfather was a strong, silent type, my grandma, she would just go out there and do the selling. And one day my grandfather was looking at a magazine. He saw an ad for a Reichen gas indicator manufactured in Tokyo, japan. He started writing letters to the company. 50 years later we're still selling them. It's a classic American type dream story, right, entrepreneur. So we're located in Buffalo, new York. We have eight employees, mom and pop shop, third generation. John Bickford, who was with my grandparents, is my uncle, he's the president. And my mom, she does the books and I'm learning the books right now, doing payroll accounts, payable accounts, receivable. It's great, it's fun.
Bryant Hawkins:Man, I guess you're touching all bases.
Tim Keohane:You're almost like a one-man show, but a one-family show I am. Yeah. Well, it's a lot like this MD Expo. I mean, we're a small, tight-knit community of family. I think your son's involved too, right. So it is kind of like a family type business and it's just kind of great to be here. For a small company like me, this brings so much value. Everybody at Tech Nation is great Jamie and her team. They really bring value add to my company because we don't have the budgets of those big guys, right, so we have to really take advantage of what we can.
Bryant Hawkins:So I'm going to give you a minute. You mentioned a history of it, what we can, so I'm going to give you a minute. You mentioned a history of it. What would tell the ATN community? What will set you, your company, apart from your counterparts? Gotcha yeah.
Tim Keohane:So we are, we're small, right? So when you, when you call AAM Bickford, you're going to get somebody on the phone right away. You're going to get a live person. You don't need an account number, you don't have to type in an extension, and you're going to get your answers provided quickly. You're going to either talk to me or my co-worker, jim Lamarty, and we're going to help you out right away. Now for my product, the Reichen Gas Indicator. It's a niche product. The FIE 1000P is the newest one and we calibrate them in our shop. They're calibrated within 24 hours of us receiving them. So it's going to hit UPS, it's going to hit our warehouse, our factory, and it's going to go right back out again to you. So it's going to be a fast turnaround time. So you're going to get customer service, you're going to get fast turnaround time and you can get your problem solved right away. So we value our customers and we try to communicate that to them.
Bryant Hawkins:We try to provide it to them every single day. So how can the H&M professionals contact you?
Tim Keohane:Good question. So you can go on our website ambickfordcom. You can click on the Reichen Gas Indicator page. All the information about that one product is on there. You can email us. My email is timk at ambickfordcom. We'll get back to you right away and give us a call too. We're there open Monday through Friday, 8 to 430 Eastern Standard Time, and again, we're just a small family company against these bigger guys and we're just looking for support in business and we're here to help the community out. As much as we can Appreciate you coming on team, wish you nothing, but you gotta have b-hawk. Do the heisman stance. Desmond howard has nothing on him, so I appreciate you having me on here.
Walter Moyer:I really appreciate thank you so much.
Bryant Hawkins:Take care take care we're back here at md exp, day two. I'm sitting here with two individuals that are close and dear to my heart. Introduce yourselves, ladies, and who you're working with.
Lisa Gonzales:Good afternoon. It's great to see you, brian, and it's great to be with you again. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. I'm the director of student Services at the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology.
Lesley Harrington:Hi Bryant. I'm Leslie Harrington. I'm the Career Services Supervisor at the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology.
Bryant Hawkins:So you both mentioned you work for the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology. How have things been going on the school front?
Lisa Gonzales:Fantastic. We're growing. We have new program. I know last time we were on, we spoke to you about the BMET certificate and degree. We have the HISM, which is the Healthcare Information System Management degree and certificate. We have an RBLP course, which is for resilience um leadership, no, resilience building leadership program, um. So yeah, we're going from strength to strength and doing amazing things in the industry and building some uh fantastic partnerships with um many, many companies out there and people like yourself.
Bryant Hawkins:So if you had to talk about this industry right now, you guys come to a lot of shows. So if you had to talk about this industry right now, you guys come to a lot of shows. Where do you see the H2M industry going with reference to young people?
Lesley Harrington:We see a lot of enthusiasm with our students. We have a lot of young students coming in very entry level right out of high school looking to start their career, and then we have a lot of students enrolling in the programs that are, you know, seasoned technicians, but they, you know, enroll in CBET to pursue their education and be able to get that next step in their career. So we see a lot of enthusiasm. We love to connect our students to the different industry partners. We love to connect with Bearded, biomed and all of our different partners here, intermed, and it's just, it's a great network and we love the enthusiasm of our students.
Bryant Hawkins:And you like working with HTM online.
Lisa Gonzales:And HTM online, our favorite.
Bryant Hawkins:Let me keep going Now. I want to talk about one thing that I think you guys have a strong new love for. It's the high school's career day. I saw where y'all just recently went to one and the response you put on LinkedIn about how amazing it was. Tell me about it more. What was one of the things that stood out the most to you?
Lisa Gonzales:I think, just sharing the knowledge and you know the amazing work that Biomeds do. You know there's so many times you have, you know, an operation, you thank the doctors, uh, but you don't realize that that unsung hero is the biomed. Without the biomed and a lot of that work you know the doctors and nurses do, um, what you know doesn't happen. So for us it's sharing them, with them that you know, you're saving lives every day in a different way.
Lisa Gonzales:And we went to the high school recently and we took with us a patient monitor. We took along Riegel's test equipment and Leslie and myself and no technician and we had a bit of trouble setting it up. So we did some troubleshooting over the phone and the students came over. They loved hearing about it. There's many students that tell us you know my dad on the car, you know I've helped my dad repair the lawnmower. And even just the young girls there was four of them that said yeah, I've heard of Biomed and it's great. So sharing that word and hopefully trying to get that next generation into the industry is we love it. We love what?
Lesley Harrington:we do and it's great to see that spark in their eyes when we explain what a biomed does, explain the HTM industry, and they've never heard of it. And we tell them you know, you've got those skills. As Lisa said, you like to work on your car, you like to help your parents tinker with things, you like Legos. One of the students' eyes lit up when we said do you take apart computers or gaming systems? And he was like I love to do that. So it's just great seeing that aha, light bulb moment in their eyes when we describe biomeds and what they can do in the profession.
Bryant Hawkins:How many biomeds did y'all put out in a year?
Lisa Gonzales:I think last year we had somewhere in the region of about 300. This year we're going to beat that and we're going strength, you know, from strength to strength. One of the courses that we have at the college is the professional career development course and that, to us, is really not just become a program, it's become really part of the whole process. And you know life cycle of a student because we do that mock interview with them, we talk to them about the importance of that communication, having your elevator pitch, leslie you know, updating your resume, targeting it to the healthcare technology management industry, hitting on those keywords, troubleshooting those technical skills that students don't even realize translate into HTM.
Bryant Hawkins:Well, look guys, y'all got to come back on the show. You know it's been since 2022, right, it's been a while, Brian, no January of 2023. It was the early part, so it's time for y'all to come back because we can talk about an hour and a half. You know, we're supposed to be a little quick moment here.
Lisa Gonzales:We're so passionate about what we do. Yes, exactly you have to kick us off.
Bryant Hawkins:We need to get it together so we get back and not slow down, but just fit some time in. I would love to talk because y'all have changed so much since the last time we spoke, so I think we need to update them and, if anything I can do for you guys, to help anytime, because you know I love and appreciate y'all to the to the sky, cause y'all are my. I brag and tell people all the time Y'all are the real reason for what I do. Y'all have been supporting me since my second episode when I was so I love you guys and I'll do anything for y'all. We love you, brian.
Lesley Harrington:We'd like to have you on our course and speak to our students as a guest speaker.
Bryant Hawkins:Please, please, alright.
Lesley Harrington:Thanks guys, Thank you so much.
Bryant Hawkins:Okay, we're here at the Expo. I have another guest, mr Rick Walston, with Prunk Technologies. How you doing, rick Good?
Rick Walston:I'm doing good, man, how are you? Did I pronounce that name right? Yes, you did. Oh, okay, great. So, rick, tell us about Prunk Technologies, even though we all know about it. Okay, well, prunk manufactures small, compact, durable test equipment for the biomed. We have also software that runs it on an iPad or iPhone and you can control the equipment and get data back to it.
Bryant Hawkins:Great. So where are you guys located?
Rick Walston:Our factory is in Sun Valley, california, which is near Burbank LA area.
Bryant Hawkins:Now at the company I work for, reuse Prunk a lot, so what could you tell the HTM community that sets Prunk apart from the rest, or why they should use Prunk instead of everyone else?
Rick Walston:Like I mentioned before, small, compact, durable that's our key features. But it's also easy to use, extremely accurate, and we design everything with the biomed in mind, and we design everything with the biomed in mind, and any time a new product comes out, we put it in the hands of biomed to actually use it before it goes out on the market. A good example is our new pressure meter.
Bryant Hawkins:We had that out six to eight months with biomed all over the country using it trying to break it, so we could fix it and have a good product when it hits the market. So I know now technology is advanced.
Rick Walston:Do y'all have any type of integration with the equipment on the servers? So what we have is an app called the Mobilize app that, like I mentioned, controls the equipment. You get data from the equipment and then you can send reports from that to your CMMS or you can email them. I've got small ISOs that use them as their service report for it, and we do offer some integration with CMMS systems as well. The data goes right into the work order, so you don't have to send it.
Bryant Hawkins:Now let me ask you this question here. I see the part about the integration because I think that's awesome. That makes sure accuracy is there. Maintenance Do y'all have high maintenance issues with your equipment as far as repairs?
Rick Walston:All of our equipment comes with a four-year standard warranty. So anything, parts, labor, all covered for four years. We have we've been in the industry for 18 years and we still have some of our original equipment on the in the market still in use.
Bryant Hawkins:I appreciate you coming to sit down with me, rick. Maybe you got to do a full episode one day, man, just getting snippets in getting people in. I'm going to be starting to come down to Louisiana me, rick. Maybe I do a full episode one day, man. Ok, sounds good, I'm just getting snippets in getting people in.
Rick Walston:Ok man, I'm going to be starting to come down to Louisiana, so I'll hit you up.
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, sir, we'll get together. Thank you for your time, brother. All right, man, ok. Day two here at MDX. Well, I'm sitting here with someone who has energy to no end.
Adrianna England:His number one fan.
Bryant Hawkins:There you go, see, I'm trying to be modest. I'm with Miss Adriana, england. How are you doing today?
Adrianna England:I'm doing great, thank you.
Bryant Hawkins:How's the show been going?
Adrianna England:Amazing Day one was absolutely fun. Today's a little slower, which is okay because I get to spend time with you.
Bryant Hawkins:How was the action yesterday? Was it busy it?
Adrianna England:was busy. It was busy from when we got here till I went to bed last night. Oh, wow, yeah, it was busy. A lot of interaction, a lot of mingling with vendors and customers.
Bryant Hawkins:So what company are you affiliated with?
Adrianna England:I'm with Advanced Ultrasound Systems, or AUS.
Bryant Hawkins:And where are y'all?
Adrianna England:located.
Bryant Hawkins:H or AUS, and where y'all located Tulsa, oklahoma. But I'm a Cali girl, so I'm gonna assume that you repair and service ultrasound equipment, which y'all do, we do.
Adrianna England:So when you think ultrasound, we definitely would love to be that resource. We are 100%, fully focused on that. So training, parts depot repair, customer service, tech support service anything ultrasound my job is to brand AUS as the number one choice.
Bryant Hawkins:What area y'all cover in the United.
Adrianna England:States. So we are focused in Tulsa, oklahoma. However, I'm in California, so we have California coverage, we have coverage in Texas and we are constantly branching out. So in those states there, what would you?
Bryant Hawkins:tell the HTM professionals. So in those states there, what would you tell the HTM professionals? Why would they want to use AUS instead of the counterparts?
Adrianna England:Well, me duh. No, we definitely we're a powerhouse, so we only have 22 employees. However, our director of service is a close friend of mine, Jim Rickner, and he's been in the industry for 20 plus years and he teaches at a biomed level, so he definitely is coming on site just spreading his knowledge and expertise. So you can choose anybody in this field, but when you have somebody that's been doing it for so long with passion, why not give us an opportunity Awesome?
Bryant Hawkins:Now we're going to switch lanes a little bit. I want to talk about this women in leadership group here. What is that all about?
Adrianna England:So we started in October and I partnered with four women that just had something more that we wanted to offer the HTM community. We're all in sales. We're all in sales. We're all in the healthcare network. However, we have a passion for leading and mentoring and inspiring other women to get into this profession. So we grouped us four and today we have 130 plus members to inspire other women to take on a leadership role and, if you're not in a leadership role, to mentor with one of us that we can help you to get to that level.
Bryant Hawkins:Okay, Now how can someone join this Women in Leadership?
Adrianna England:group. So we are on LinkedIn so you can find our group. You can reach out to myself. April Lebo, A lot of people know Kim. We have Amber from Midwest, so we definitely we're branded on LinkedIn and we can reach out to Brian, our favorite.
Bryant Hawkins:How do someone get in contact with AUS?
Adrianna England:So I am all over social media. I'm a social butterfly, so you can find me on LinkedIn. You can also email me at aengland at advancedultrasoundcom. You can also email me at aengland at advancedultrasoundcom. You can Google we're a quick Google search Advanced Ultrasound Systems and I am easily available.
Bryant Hawkins:Do you have a company website?
Adrianna England:We do advancedultrasoundsystemscom.
Bryant Hawkins:Well, it was great, adriana, talking with you, as always. Thank you, looking forward to seeing you again. You got to come on my podcast one time, all right. All right, thank you.
Adrianna England:Looking forward to seeing you again. You got to come on my podcast one time.
Bryant Hawkins:All right, all right, thank you. Thank you. All right, we're back here at MD Expo. I'm sitting here with a I'll say okay friend of mine. I mean, she's a good friend of mine, kim Rowland. How you doing today, kim Hi?
Karina Deniz:B, thanks for having me on.
Bryant Hawkins:How has the show been?
Kim Rowland:You know it's been a really great show. I think Vegas is a great location and always a good time to get to see you.
Bryant Hawkins:I appreciate that. So you've been seeing any old friends rekindling new friends, making new friends. How's it been going?
Kim Rowland:You know the best thing about MD Expo it's almost like a family reunion. I think a big part of our industry is long, long timers and getting to reconnect, not just on the end users that are going to be here, but also on the vendor side. You're always going to be able to do business with that coopetition level in the industry. So, yeah, it's been really good.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great. So this is I know it's not your first Indie Expo. How long have you been coming to these shows?
Kim Rowland:Oh my gosh, Are you trying to age me?
Bryant Hawkins:You are Five plus years trying to age me, you are five plus years.
Kim Rowland:Five, yeah, no, literally I think it's been 20 plus years, I think I'm around you started in high school, exactly, you know it.
Bryant Hawkins:We did just become best friends so you technically can see the evolving of this expo and the biomed industry for that matter absolutely the expansion um the biomed and the connecting of the two departments.
Kim Rowland:I think that there's a little bit more of a. There was more of a defined line, a black side and a white side, right when you have biomed, and then you have the imaging, and I like that we've been able to merge those a little bit more, be a little bit more collaborative and make it more of a gray space.
Bryant Hawkins:I think so, in your opinion, do you see, since you mentioned coopetition, do you see a lot of vendors OEMs each other and work with each other because ultimately it comes down to patient care?
Kim Rowland:You want to get the best price and the shortest distance for that customer to get that part, they're going to get the best price. So, yes, you have to develop those relationships with the quality parts providers and training companies.
Bryant Hawkins:Okay, let's switch gears a little bit here. I'm admiring your outfit there. It's pretty blue, power blue, yeah. So women in leadership? Yes, I know what that's about, because I've had a few of your counterparts on here already. So where do you see women in leadership, or where do y'all? What's the vision of women in leadership from your part, your perspective?
Kim Rowland:So I'll take a step back. You said you've already interviewed them. I'm just getting on here. Where's our friendship place now?
Kim Rowland:Well, you was signing autographs and taking pictures and I had to go to the next ones, so I think, in a nutshell, what I love about the women in leadership is being able to pay it forward. I think the whole membership board or the leadership board has been in varying degrees of stepping up in this industry right, and we've got stories that have gotten us to where we are and we can really relate to, like the foundational of what builds quality employees, technicians, salespeople, whatever. We've got a wide variety of experience and I love that we get to go out and meet the people and normalize women in the space. Specifically. The whole women part about this is we're not trying to make it male-female. What we're trying to do is make it about the human thing.
Kim Rowland:This is a more male-dominated space. It's gotten better. We always need improving, but we're not trying to just focus on female. We're just saying, hey guys, you know there's a place where we have different conversations. We want to level it out to be a human connection. Let's look at it as what our expertise is. Let's interview and be hired based on what our skill set is. Are we ever going to get there? 100 percent, no. But how do we empower people, change their mind? We don't have to always find the same obstacles. How do we let them know. You know the questions to ask and the places to be and the networking and the things that I don't know. Everybody knows, especially new into the space to get involved in and get connected with, to be able to really improve their career and their connections in this space.
Bryant Hawkins:I mean anything I can do to support y'all. Just keep me in the loop and I appreciate you coming to sit down here and talk with me.
Kim Rowland:We appreciate you, we appreciate your support and we want to get the message out. You know we only know so many people around us and we want to expand that. We don't want it to feel exclusive to just the people that we know in our circle. So thank you for getting the word out and expanding out the awareness.
Bryant Hawkins:You got to come on my podcast and we can talk a little longer. Let's do that I know, this went by very quickly.
Kim Rowland:Thanks for making this even a lot more fun here at the show today.
Bryant Hawkins:Thank you, awesome. All right, this is the last interview from MD Expo Las Vegas and I'm closing it out with a friend of mine by the name of Kelly Thacker. How you doing, kelly?
Kelly Thakkar:I'm good. How are you?
Bryant Hawkins:How's the show been going?
Kelly Thakkar:Good, it's great turnout.
Bryant Hawkins:So Kelly, who are you working with?
Kelly Thakkar:I'm with J2S Medical.
Bryant Hawkins:And what does J2S Medical do?
Kelly Thakkar:We are a general biomedical parts and service provider. Our core competency is infusion equipment, so we primarily provide service, replacement parts, rental equipment, all under the infusion umbrella.
Bryant Hawkins:And where are y'all based out of?
Kelly Thakkar:Cincinnati, Ohio, baby.
Bryant Hawkins:And y'all cover what parts of the country.
Kelly Thakkar:Everywhere, anywhere, everywhere, okay yeah.
Bryant Hawkins:That's great, and how can someone contact you guys?
Kelly Thakkar:They can reach out to us on our website, j2smedicalcom. They can give me a shout 513-293-0613.
Bryant Hawkins:Anytime you just shared your number like that I don't mind.
Kelly Thakkar:Okay, give us a call.
Bryant Hawkins:We'd like to help. That's amazing. So how do you see the industry going in the next few years, next year?
Kelly Thakkar:I'm going to say a few years. So I've been in HTM for about six years and one thing I think that's been there's been two big shifts. There's a lot more education about the field. A lot of people are hearing about it, more especially the young folks out there, which is really nice, and there's a lot more women, and I really like seeing that. So those, I think, are the two things I'm noticing. There's always, you know, different things as far as infusion pumps from the oem that can be challenging um, but I think, more than anything, there's just a higher um view on our industry that previously wasn't let me ask you this question.
Bryant Hawkins:So, as far as giving back, do you guys do anything with regards to giving back to communities and things like that in the hdm industry?
Kelly Thakkar:yeah, so sarah stem, who is one of the founders of j2s, was really really big on that, um. So one of the things that j2s used to do every year around the holidays is we had a whole day dedicated to volunteer service in our community, which was amazing, um the last. So sar, as many people know, got sick in 2020, recently passed away. But the last in-person volunteer organization that we got involved with is a really cool org that is focused around providing diapers for children in impoverished areas, which isn't necessarily related to HDM, but it was just really cool because it was something that has such a large reach to a lot of people. So it's a diaper bank, essentially.
Kelly Thakkar:And then we also partnered with Matthew 25 Ministry around us Again, not necessarily related to HDM, but just something that Sarah really believes in and still wants us to carry on today. And then we get really we're involved in some of the community colleges around our area and actually have a lot of interns that work with us, so trying to get them exposure to the real world, so that, as far as htm goes, we do that and also, don't y'all get involved with biomed associations oh yeah, um, so I am actually on the board of the kentucky association.
Kelly Thakkar:Um, yeah, I love it. And so KME kind of like came from the ashes and really started to grow and had a great symposium in 2019. And then COVID kind of shut us down for a while, but we're growing again, so that's awesome. I'm involved with the Ohio show, ohio org, indiana, chicago. Since we're in Cincinnati it's we kind of like branch out through the tri-state area. So, yeah, we love to be a part of that.
Bryant Hawkins:I do career fairs in high schools and whenever I do career fair I reach out to the vendors to send me swag and we give to the kids every time they do. So if you guys ever have anything you want to give back, I'll shoot you an email. You shoot me some stuff and the kids loves it, and back I'll shoot you an email. You shoot me some stuff and the kids loves it and it'd be like, give them. I'll give them like an expo experience on a high school level.
Kelly Thakkar:Love that Absolutely, anytime you let us know.
Bryant Hawkins:I'm glad to have you on here. I appreciate you taking some time.
Kelly Thakkar:Thank you for having me.
Bryant Hawkins:Anytime you want to come, anything I can do to help you. I appreciate you because you are one of my most supportive ones out there. I finally got to put a face with this person who kept reposting my stuff.
Kim Rowland:I said man, who is this?
Kelly Thakkar:I appreciate her though.
Adriana Martinez:Yeah.
Kelly Thakkar:So it works out great, of course, anytime. Thanks for everything you do.
Bryant Hawkins:Thank you Getting the word out there and how the twins.
Kelly Thakkar:Man, there's something Two-year-old twins is a night, it's a beautiful storm all the time. Identical girls, man, they.