There are times we have to sit in the driver’s seat whether we are ready or not. That is as applicable on the job or in a family situation as it is to actually driving. The driver has control, and the passengers trust the driver to get them to their destination safely.

That analogy can be applied to a clinical engineering department. If the boss is sidelined, someone has to step in and take over the reins. The ensuing experience can go two ways, depending on the new driver.
That was exactly the case at the clinical engineering department at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass. Last summer, both the department’s manager and its OR/anesthesia technician sustained injuries. The department was in something of a pinch.

That’s when Cho Fei Low, a service representative and technician with Linc Health (an ABM company) stepped in. Low had tutored under his department’s manager as the lead technician, and they had covered some contingency plans if the manager was away. But in this case, there was a whole lot more that needed to be learned on the job. At 28, Low was about to realize the full extent of a clinical engineering department manager’s duties.

TAKING THE REINS

Low’s parents, immigrants from China, imparted a strong work ethic in their children. They had high expectations for Cho, their first-born son in America. Those high expectations paid off when the young tech was thrust into the role of manager, including meetings with the hospital’s top brass and picking up on a project in progress.

The Clinical Engineering department at St. Vincent normally consists of a manager, lead tech, two techs from the independent service organization Linc Health and two techs who are employed full-time by St. Vincent.

“I encountered my hardest challenge earlier this year when the (clinical engineering) manager of my hospital was injured and we were informed that he would be out for some time,” Low recalls. “This required me to step up and take more of a leadership roll in my department. Everyone looks to me for guidance and to answer their questions. Although I don’t always know the answers, I do my best to guide them in the right direction.”

Low’s department manager was involved in an accident the day before Low was to return to work from vacation. Low took on the manager role with little preparation. “I pretty much walked in with a nice tan and I get a phone call saying he’s not going to be in for a while,” Low says.

“I definitely sat down for a good hour and thought of what to do.” Low did not normally have meetings with upper management at the hospital, but now he was stepping into his boss’s committee assignments.

“I had to figure everything out. Everybody had to step up a notch and do some extra work,” Low says. “It’s definitely been tough, but I think that we got it.

We have a very good crew here.” Low’s manager was in the middle of a telemetry insulation project, which Low has continued in his absence.

Just a month later, the team’s OR/ anesthesia tech was injured away from work, reducing the department’s manpower even further.

Low is modest in his assessment of his performance. His boss at Linc Health, Regional Director of Operations Tom Chenail says Low was “a diamond in the rough.”

“His ability to adapt to most situations has put him on a steep path to success with Linc Health,” Chenail says. “He went from a BMET to BMET 3 (lead technician) in rather short order based on his skill levels, demonstrated day in and day out.”

“He has been very instrumental in a telemetry project at the hospital and has brought all parties together in order to complete the project. I am amazed when I talk with him to hear his insight and thought process with all that is going on.”

BECOMING A BIOMED

“I always had a curiosity for keeping up with things; I liked gadgets,” Low says.

“The medical field was a good field to get into because it’s always going to be there. Where I lived, it wasn’t a huge technology city where there were a ton of tech jobs except for hospitals,” Low says. The field runs in the family: Low’s parents and brother also work in health care in Massachusetts.

Low attended Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, where he earned a two-year degree in Medical Electronics Engineering Technology. Low completed an internship in the field at Children’s Hospital of Boston. During the internship, “I learned more than I could ever imagine and only grew more passionate about my choice of career path,” he says.

Low‘s internship at Children’s Hospital lasted for six months. He learned during that time that everything is different every day when you are a biomed.

Low took the position with Linc Health, which was then Technology in Medicine, and has been there for five years. He has been assigned to St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass. the whole time.

He credits his boss, department manager Bob Gaumond, for providing sound guidance from the start. “He was a big influence on training and how to do the job correctly the first time, every time,” Low says.

Away from work Low enjoys playing video games, riding his motorcycle and spending time with close friends and family. Low would like to move toward specializing in radiology and is already beginning to take on those duties. Low’s manager is anticipated to be back on the job in the spring. In the meantime, the lead is leading the way.