HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
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HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.
Salvador Oritiz: Making the Invisible Visible in HTM
This is Episode 100 of HTM On The Line.
In this milestone episode, Bryant Hawkins Sr. sits down with Salvador Ortiz, a clinical engineer, mentor, and children’s book author whose path into Healthcare Technology Management began with patients who introduced him to a career he didn’t even know existed.
In this conversation, we explore:
- Mentorship beyond the bench
- Leadership in high-pressure clinical moments
- Why HTM remains essential—and often invisible
- How storytelling can help build the future HTM pipeline
Chavita, the Curious Clinical Engineer by Salvador Ortiz is available on Amazon. Click here.
👇 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share—because this story needs to be heard.
Big thanks to our partners: College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, A.M. BICKFORD, INC., UptimeServices, MARS Bio-Med Processes Inc, Innovative Radiology and Sage Services Group. Your support keeps the HTM mission alive!
This podcast was produced by the B-Hawk Network.
Welcome to HTM on the Line. I'm your host, Brian Hawkins Sr. Now some milestones don't need celebration, they need clarity. This is episode 100 of HTM on the Line. Not 100 guests, not 100 interviews, but 100 moments of showing up. Sometimes with a guest, sometimes solo, always with the same purpose. To make healthcare technology management visible. To put language to work that usually happens in the background. To remind people that this industry has weight, value, and a future worth protecting. And today's episode brings that full circle. My guest is Salvador Ortiz, clinical engineer, mentor, and an author. But before any titles, his journey into HTM started with patients. People who saw his curiosity, his aptitude, and his potential, and told him about a career he didn't even know existed. That detail matters. Because it reminds us that exposure doesn't always come from institutions. Sometimes it comes from people who simply take the time to point something out. In this conversation, we talk about mentorship beyond the bench, leadership and high pressure, and why storytelling, especially for kids, might be one of the most powerful pipeline builders HTML has right now. Episode 100 isn't about a number, it's about intention. Let's get into it. Sal, take us back to the very beginning. How did you discover HTM?
Salvador:Sure. Well, I got into the HTM world in high school. I was working at a senior home. It was a pretty large senior home for my town. It was in Sacramento, kind of out the kind of bordering Elk Grove. And the seniors that live there, they knew that I was really into math, that I was really good at science. And they knew that I was looking at colleges and looking for a new career. And they all had medical devices. They all constantly went to the hospital. And so they were the ones who told me about these individuals in the hospital that fix medical equipment. And yeah, that kind of sparked it all for me. So once I went to DeVray and got my four-year degree, that's how I got into the HCM world.
Bryant Hawkins:Wow. So let me see, because I'm always hearing these, everybody have a different way they got into this industry. The people that was transporting the patients to the hospital told you about this, or someone actually the the patients.
Salvador:The patients. So the seniors that were residents in the senior home, they were the ones who kind of would pull me aside after dinner or on my break and tell me, hey, you know, there's there's a there's a career here. Don't know if it's big yet, but you should get into it before you know you waste time doing something else that you don't like.
Bryant Hawkins:Wow. This is another first. I've never heard someone come to the industry from the patients telling them, wow, that's I keep finding new ones. That that might be a good book. What did you think HTM was when you started doing it? Besides just fixing equipment.
Salvador:Well, at first I thought it was just something new that, you know, was probably up and coming. I thought it was going to be like, you know, I would be one of the first people in this field. But, you know, coming into it and learning more about it, no, this field has been around for a long time. It it's kind of been a transition from being, you know, something that the facilities and plant management engineers at hospitals would kind of do on their own, and kind of it was just added to their workload, and then eventually it kind of separated and became its own field of biomedical engineering, healthcare technology management as the equipment advanced. So for me, it was more like I thought this was something brand new. So kind of like how AI is brand new now. When I went to school and came out of school, I thought, okay, this is kind of new, this is kind of edgy, but you know, once I got into it, I was like, nope, this isn't something like that's brand new. It's something that's been tried and true. It's it's a career that's been out there, it just hasn't been really talked about.
Bryant Hawkins:How long have you been in the industry now so far?
Salvador:Uh let's see. I've been in the field now 14 years, plus or minus my internships. So yeah. Yes, right.
Bryant Hawkins:14 years. So now early on in your career, what was it that probably uh what was it that kept you going when things got tough?
Salvador:It was continually learning new things and having people and and in my life and leadership that would support me learning new things. I came from a background where you know you did one type of work, and if you wanted to learn it or change things, or you know, had an idea, you know, they weren't really supported by management or by leadership or by even people around you. So when things got tough, I just try to adapt and try to make the role what I wanted it to be. So if I wanted to mentor people, I would work with my colleagues and my leadership and try to mentor people around me. If I wanted to learn how to do imaging equipment, I would try to shadow people or come in on my own time and do things. So yeah, it was just having that open space which you find in HTM world where you find a lot of people who are willing to teach others and mentor others and coach others, and it's pretty rare in other industries. So it's it's it's kind of interesting to see it in the HTM world and actually be something that's fostered and supported and has been for many, many years.
Bryant Hawkins:Now, was there a moment when you realized HTM wasn't just a job but a responsibility that was tied to patient care?
Salvador:Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there were many moments. I mean, I I worked in the rental side of house, in-house, project management, uh, clinical engineering, but in every aspect that I worked in, you know, you you you have moments where you go and have to fix a device on a patient or in pediatric ICU or have to go into the OR and fix something while there's operation going on. And in those moments, you kind of it it things become real, you know. You know, you do PMs, you do repairs, you do strategies, you do life cycle, you do, you know, go to the meetings, you do the you know, your day-to-day, that when you get that call, emergency, you need to get up here, fix this, or somebody might get hurt. That's really when it really makes things real. And you know, your training and all that stuff really needs to kick in, and and you're not just fixing the devices, but also having that bedside manners that most doctors, especially specialist doctors, don't have as much as just like trying to come in, be calm, reassure the patient while you're working. Kind of if if if you know what you're doing and you can just kind of like stay out of everyone's way, that's great. But if it's a situation where somebody's nervous, you know, cracking a joke or two with the patient kind of helps alleviate the the kind of seriousness of the environment. Yeah, but I yeah, definitely interactions with patients and medical devices, either doing an emergency repair or just being with the patients that really kind of changes this from a job to a career.
Bryant Hawkins:That's a great answer. Great answer. Now you mentioned that you were project manager of political systems engineer. At what point did you start thinking beyond the bench? Like beyond work orders and repairs? At what point did you started thinking beyond that?
Salvador:Uh well, I think for me it was the beginning. You know, I got a pretty good schooling from DeVri, a four-year degree, and we kind of covered everything there from not just biomedical engineering, physics, math, ethics, electrical engineering, networking. So I kind of came into the field already with some ideas and some background. But definitely when I noticed that there were people who wanted to get into this career and they didn't have the opportunities that I did, they didn't get a chance to go to a four-year school, or they're coming in with, you know, maybe not the best resume, but they have the passion, they have the the soft skills, they have the ability to kind of problem solve. And, you know, when those individuals come into my field and I can kind of see them and and they want to learn, that's when I started thinking beyond the bench and wanted to help others and kind of mentor others, coach others, and even try to make things easier for the hospitals that I worked at. I mean, sometimes strategy and building, you know, it's not just looking at your reports, it's also looking at your community, your your patients, your customers.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah. No, you clearly thought a lot about exposure and education. Where that where you where you where did you get that mindset from?
Salvador:Uh well, uh honestly, it wouldn't, you you wouldn't, if if you would have met me in high school, you that wouldn't have been what you would have heard from me. I wasn't I wasn't a straight A student in high school. I was just really, really interested in science, really interested in math. But I'm a first generation born here in America. So my parents were really, really hard and heavy on getting an education, getting college degrees, getting, you know, becoming a professional is what they would say. And in in the kids' book, there is a spread in there that shows my parents and my brother and kind of them kind of supporting me as I learn tinkering with things, tinkering with toys and stuff like that. But yeah, they really fostered that whole concept of education and helping others and just kind of expanding your knowledge and sharing your knowledge.
Bryant Hawkins:Well, I ask this question a lot, and you you kind of touched on it in the beginning of how you know you didn't know anything about this industry. So, in your opinion, why do you think so many people in healthcare still don't understand what HTM really does?
Salvador:You know, I've thought about this a lot in my career, and honestly, I think there's there's twofolds to that. I think one that I'm trying to kind of break out of the mold from my personal point of view is sometimes we're a little too shy to tell people what we do. I've I mean, I've even found myself at parties or at you know gatherings that aren't hospital related. And when people come up to me and ask me what I do or what what kind of career I do, you know, there's some shyness of like, I don't want to explain this, you know, not nobody really gets it. Nobody really knows, you know, when I say biomedical engineer, clinical engineer, HTM, that these these acronyms don't really mean much to them. And so then having to explain it could be kind of hard or just kind of like, I've done this a hundred times, you know, I don't really want to do it again situation. The other half is just we are HTM is the silent hero of the hospitals. We're not celebrated as much as the nurses or the doctors, but you know, we are a big factor in keeping the hospitals running from the in-house biomet to the field service engineer, from the vendors to the rental companies. You know, they're they're working in the background to make sure that all the medical devices in the hospital are running so that you know people don't have to call us. If everything's running great, we kind of disappear in the background and we only come up into thought when something goes wrong. And so unfortunately, that is one of the reasons why when we do our job well, nobody really knows we're there.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, that's unfortunately true. But um but when something goes wrong, or they know Baal Man's name well. If you don't think that now you mentioned the book here, so let's talk about that for a second. You first time author?
Salvador:Yes, first time author for sure.
Bryant Hawkins:That's what's the name of this book here?
Salvador:Yeah, so the book is called Chavita the Curious Clinical Engineer. Okay. Definitely the first thing I've ever written and had illustrated ever. So definitely wish you target age for this.
Bryant Hawkins:Wishy target age.
Salvador:For me, I I put it on there for just early to teens. It's kind of an easy read. My kids love it. My kids are six and four, and they've they read it on their own, and they read it at school, and they love it.
Bryant Hawkins:Great, great. And I'll make sure to put the book link in the podcast episode there. Now, obviously, somewhere along your journey, writing a book became part of your mission, your story. What shifted in you to make you want to write a book, a kid's book?
Salvador:It was definitely after I had my second kid, my son Sage. This was back in 2021. I had transitioned out of the bench biomedical engineering repairing devices to now being more on the clinical engineering, clinical system engineering, project management side of house, which goes into more strategy and planning, more big picture, multiple sites. And I just didn't know how I could explain what I did and what I was doing to my kids and tell them about my journey and my career. And so it started off as something just for them. And so I wrote a few iterations of what is the book now. I can tell you that the first iteration was just a job description with some pictures, which they weren't very interested in. You know, I tried writing a rhyming book, but I'm not a good rhymer. And this final product, it's it's you know, been in the works for a couple of years now. You know, it's I put it up on the shelf for a little bit, brought it back down. Yeah, it's it's the reason why I wrote it was for my kids, but after seeing them love it so much, I just wanted to share it and try to encourage others. And you know, it's it's definitely helpful when I go speak at schools or go to my kids' uh career day to bring this book and kind of explain to them what HTM is in a little bit more palatable manner.
Bryant Hawkins:No, man. Great. Congratulations on your kids, man. I know writing any type of book takes on a serious commitment. There's nothing easy or simple about it. Now, how does this book reflect your HTM journey, even though it's written for a younger audience?
Salvador:Yeah, I mean, it it kind of starts off with a little bit of my upbringing. Definitely meant there's a lot of references to Sacramento where I grew up. It it mentions my family, my mom, my dad, my brother, and then it goes into my time at DeVray University, where I kind of explored HTM and biomedical engineering, and how I had some professors speak into my life, and then gradually it goes into you know the career of clinical engineering and what we do. And you know, it doesn't go into depth like I mentioned before, it's not a job description, but it kind of goes into helping hospitals, helping the community, being the unsung heroes in the background.
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, that's great now. Do you see the book as a legacy work, pipeline building, or both?
Salvador:Right now it's it's feeling more like legacy work, something that I can leave behind for my kids and something to kind of contribute to the HTM community that has been so welcoming to me. But it's starting to turn into more of a pipeline source. I'm already thinking about sequels to the book. I'm hoping to have something in the works sooner than later, but you know, going and talking to people about this career and talking to local teachers, talking to local schools has have has been a very rewarding chapter to this career.
Bryant Hawkins:Hey man, I'm right there with you, man. I do it too. I believe that's the only way we're gonna get it out there is we gotta get with those schools. The younger the better, honestly. And I personally believe it's a pipeline builder, also, just for the fact that you sharing it with young people and you exposing them to it. And I think you won't know the effect of this book probably for another five years. As it continues to grow, people keep sharing it. I mean, literally, and if you're thinking about doing a sequel, that's an excellent idea because you can elaborate on it and touch a whole nother genre. I mean, it's you can't go wrong. I tell people all the time, when you're trying to bring exposure to this industry, you can't go wrong because we need a lot of it. There's not much of it out there. So I applaud you for that. Now, let's reflect for a second. What do you think the HTM industry does well when it comes to developing people?
Salvador:Well, you know, I can speak on on my behalf is that the HTM community has a lot of avenues to build people up. I mean, from just the local organizations, you know, I'm personally part of the CMIA, the AMI, there's so many other organizations out there, not just locally. You can join other states' organizations and and attend their virtual meetings or go to their conferences and gain so much education and network with so many people. And I think that HTM does that very well. Where I have been in other fields where you go to a conference and none of the classes, none of the speakers really kind of they're just there for fluff, they're just there to be an excuse to network. But I have to say, for the Amy, CMIA, and all the conferences that I've attended, they've all been, you know, something that speaks to me as a clinical engineer, as a HTM member. And I I've made many friends at these conferences and remain friends with them. And you know, we help each other out when it comes to like knowledge sharing or resume helping. I think that that's kind of rare when I talk to some of my friends from high school that work in different career paths, uh, but it's it seems like they're kind of in a silo where they don't have that community, where they don't have people that you can meet at a conference and all of a sudden be friends for five, ten years and sometimes work together on projects or work side by side on PM or regulations. It's it is something that is kind of unique to the HTM world.
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, it is. Now that's the great things about this industry. No. What do you think we still fall short? Especially with early career professionals, young people.
Salvador:Oh yeah. I think where we fall short is actually, you know, the whole reason why this book is so important is outreach to the youth. I mean, I still encounter people, you know, at church or in my community that are in that perfect age range of high school, looking for careers, not knowing what they want to do. And, you know, they ask me what I do, go into detail, and all of a sudden this new option, this new possibility is unlocked for them. And they start looking into it. And sometimes they go to, you know, a certificate course, or they go to the Amy website and look at classes, or attend a conference with me, or you know, look at videos from old conferences to see if this is something that they want to do. I feel like there are a lot of times in this career, I run into people saying, I wish I knew about this career when I was in high school. I wasted so much time pursuing these jobs that didn't really speak to me. And I feel like I found this field too late in life.
Bryant Hawkins:One thing about the HTM industry, and I think right now we're in a perfect place, is we get a chance to expose the HTM industry literally. We get to probably write it the way we want. So if you could change one thing about how HTM tells its story, what would it be?
SPEAKER_00:Hmm.
Salvador:Rewrite, I would say I would rewrite how difficult it is to get into this career. I think there was a time where kind of not just ourselves, but some some employers set the bar a little too high. I think having a master's degree to become a biomedical engineer or a clinical systems engineer might be a little overkill and it might exclude too many people. I think if we could rewrite the rules, I would say make it a little easier for people who are qualified, who have the passion, who can kind of problem solve, who have good bedside manners. You know, let them know that this is an option.
Bryant Hawkins:Yeah, I mean, I guess they in a in a small way are changing that with a lot of associate programs and apprenticeships. But like you said, to get into the leadership roles, a lot of times they want those types of degrees. And I kind of can get why they want those types, but you might make up for that type of degree with maybe experience. I don't know. But that's a great point. And just as I was mentioning, it's so like you say you go to the schools and talk to the teachers. When I came in the industry, nobody was doing that. There wasn't much outreach. I mean, and we are in a perfect place in our industry, but we can share it with the world anyway. We we could paint the picture right now, because actually the world, I think, is looking for us. Because there's so many jobs out there right now, and this is the perfect time for us to paint that picture. And I think a lot of HTM professionals don't realize how valuable we are right now, because we are the only ones that can tell that story. And that's why I think your book is so much needed at this moment, because you're telling the story. I mean, you're telling your story, it gives it credibility because you're not speaking in second, you're speaking in your terms, first person. So I think that's why I think it's a great start. I mean, because these kids, all we knew about coming in, what doctor, nurse, policeman, fireman. Why couldn't it be a biomed guy coming to our classrooms? But we're changing that. Now, in closing, I'm gonna ask you these two more questions. For someone, I always ask this, for someone entering into the HTM industry today, what advice would you give them that goes beyond technical skills?
Salvador:Don't be shy. That's that's the big one. Is that, you know, if if you want to come into this industry and this is your passion, don't be shy to network, don't be shy to go to your local hospital and say, hey, you know, can I stop by at the biomed shop and say hi to those guys? You know, it it took me many years to go to be in this industry to actually go find my local hospital's biomed shop and say hi to people that have been maintaining the equipment at my local hospital that I intend to every day. I don't work there, but you know, I have my services there. I think for anybody who who is interested, don't be shy to reach out to people on LinkedIn, don't be shy to reach out to people at the CMIA or the Amy to say, hey, can I shadow you? Can I come to a shop and shadow someone? I think that that speaks volumes, not just in your technical skills, but just showing that you you're willing to kind of put yourself out there.
Bryant Hawkins:Yes, great answer. Uh, this is more like a legacy question here. Now, how do you want your impact in HTM to be remembered? As a technician, a leader, or a builder of what comes next?
Salvador:I think for my legacy, I always want to be kind of remembered being a coach, a mentor, you know, somebody that helps anyone. You know, I think I think that's one of the things that uh kind of made the biggest impression on me when I came into this industry is there was a lot of older biomedical engineers, a lot of older clinical engineers, a lot of older HTM leaders that kind of made the time to meet with me, do the one-on-ones, kind of encourage me on, you know, studying this or going into imaging, going into sterilization, going to the Amy classes for CHTM. You know, just I think taking what they've done for me and doing it for others, mentoring, coaching, sharing about this career is the legacy that I want to bring.
Bryant Hawkins:That's great, man. Now, let me be clear too, also. A technician is not a bad way to leave an impact on the future. I want them to think I'm minimizing a technician because I know some great technicians, and some people just want to be technicians, and that's not a bad thing. And a leader, some people just want to lead. But like you said, you were you are fortunate, honestly, to have the older ones mentor you because unfortunately, you don't get that a lot in this industry, which is why this podcast is here. So you can get on this platform and you don't know who can listen to this and be inspired by you. Because they don't have that in these shops. A lot of these older ones are just there to do their jobs and go home. Some of them say they didn't sign up to be mentors. Unfortunately, we can't do nothing with that, but as long as you're doing your part, you're paying it forward because someone paid it forward to you. So I thank you for coming on the podcast. I wish you the best with your book. And if any way I can be of assistance to you, please don't hesitate to reach out. You're always welcome to come back when you write that second book. You can come back and promote it, or we can do another episode where we can just talk strictly about the current book. So I appreciate your time with me.
Salvador:Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And then the book is called Chavita, the Curious Clinical Engineer. It's on Amazon, on Kendall, and uh paperback.
Bryant Hawkins:Here's what this conversation reminds me of. Impact in HTM doesn't come from noise, it comes from consistency, from showing up when it matters, from mentoring without being asked, from telling the story, even when the work usually stays invisible. That's what Sal represents. And that's what these first 100 episodes represent to me. Some were conversations, some were reflections, all of them pointed forward. Sal, thank you for your leadership, your honesty, and for building what comes next, especially for the kids who haven't discovered this industry yet. This was episode 100 of 18 on the line. And it will continue.
