A reshuffling of the schedule proved to be a successful change at the last annual symposium for the Washington State Biomedical Association (WSBA). The many months of work put into organizing the symposium paid off for the planners when the new schedule allowed for more attendees to visit with the vendors in attendance.

Classes were also a hit. “The robotic surgical device was a very impressive demonstration,” says Jeff Schweer, CBET, president of WSBA. “The feedback over all on the classes was very positive, and really, since the membership had picked the types of classes they were interested in, how could we go wrong?”

Symposium chair Chris Walton was a big part of that success. Treasurer Ron de Ru and past president Mark Ruark were also integral in producing a well-rounded event. President Schweer handled the vendor portion.

“Chris’s skills were instrumental to make that work. Now, it’s written down; it’s a template. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but it’s going to be easier. If all of us moved to Bermuda tomorrow, the next group of officers would not have to start over,” Schweer says.

The group’s officers for 2012 include president Jeff Schweer,,president-elect Brandon Keith, secretary Ron de Ru and treasurer Chris Walton. Elected officials serve for one year unless they offer to extend their tenure.

An Educational Alliance

WSBA has maintained a close relationship with North Seattle Community College throughout its existence. “We hold our symposium on the campus each year,” Schweer says. “The director of the program, Linda Wilkinson, has been a champion and partner for us. With her coordination, we also assist in placing students in Internships in area hospitals. They graciously give us classroom space and room in their big cafeteria hall for the vendor fair.”

“NSCC has been beyond accommodating to us just on the symposium alone. And also to pay that back, the working members who are in hospitals – we let each other know when we have intern positions open. We advertise positions that are opening on the website. We make sure that the students who are just graduating know where some of those are. There is no guarantee that you will get a job around here, but we would at least give them a chance to bag those entry-level positions close by if we can.”

Dennis McMahon, the group’s education chair, is a part-time instructor at the North Seattle Community College.

The association’s base location brings it into close proximity to several major medical device manufacturers. That adds an additional dynamic to the relationship between the association and the community college, leveraging its relationship with manufacturers. “We are now trying to expand the internships to include those at local medical manufacturers. The interest was there so it was only a matter of introducing the various parties and letting them work out the details.”

Schweer points out that local OEMs are a great destination for the graduating biomed students. “They have internships for new engineers all the time. But they are finding that they also need two-year associate degree tech-type people for jobs that they have in their building. Somebody that’s not off the street, they have skill sets already demonstrated with their training in the two-year programs. And they already have at least some biomedical and medical terminology because of the program too, so that when they come in the door, it’s not going to be a total surprise.”

“We provide two $500 scholarships each year to biomed students at North Seattle Community College,” Schweer says. “The students qualify by participating in a blind judged essay contest each year. In fact, the new cycle will start in January with judging to follow and the awards during the March time frame.”

Working Toward State Status

“Is there more that we could be doing? We’re investigating with being more involved with other nearby associations.” The group’s president frames the role of a statewide biomed organization.

Schweer points out that the WSBA is looking at earning full rights to its moniker as the Washington State Biomedical Association. “I think that our central focus now is what is next – what is the next step?” The association has a concentration of members in the Puget Sound area.  One of the group’s biggest challenges and goals is to expand across the state and have representation in all parts of the state.

“Definitely expanding our footprint going north and south. We’re moving east of course, east of the Cascades. We call it the Washington State Biomedical Association, but right now it’s mostly the Puget Sound biomedical association. I think that is one of our biggest projects to reach out to other areas of the state, all the way down to Vancouver,” Schweer says.

“That’s something we’re really working on doing. Extending the footprint and becoming more relevant involves more than one or two things. It involves trying to put some of the meetings and the videos on the website so other areas can see it. We would like to have one or two meetings a year in other places. We don’t know if we are going to go towards the chapter-type idea like California does, but it might be a solution. Right now, we are brainstorming. We’re going to find out where do we want to go from here?”

In May, the group will have a meeting in Spokane. The association recognizes that with the capabilities of electronic communications, their ability to include more distant members is as close as a computer or video camera.

One member, Russell Elledge, has put meetings on Vimeo. He has combined the presentations at meetings with the relevant slides with both on the same screen.

The group will be rewriting their by-laws. “We’re going to have volunteer members look over it and make recommendations. It’s not just going to be by fiat,” Schweer says. They are also looking at their year-round meeting schedule and whether or not to reduce the number of meetings. They will also consider holding a meeting that is nothing more than a picnic for families and significant others.
“Maybe we need to do something else,” says Schweer.

Meetings have included some solid presenters. The group doesn’t want to just hear a pitch from an OEM. “Talk to us about theory, talk to us about the engineering decisions that were made to make something happen a certain way,” Schweer says. “Dunlee presented at a meeting last year. The engineer brought a couple of tubes and some other parts and explained how they work. “People loved that one; he got into some of the nuts and bolts.”

The association is interested in feedback from members. More information can be found at the association’s website,  http://www.bmet.org.