By K. Richard Douglas
Colorado became the 38th state to be granted statehood in the U.S. in 1876 and earned the nickname – the Centennial State. Colorado saw its first European visitors in 1858 with the discovery of gold in the area that is today the city of Denver.With the importance of being the state to gain statehood on America’s centennial, it is also the state with one of the longest enduring biomed associations in the nation.
Founded in 1974, the Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians (CABMET) has become known as one of the leading biomed associations in the country. It’s pioneering work in CBET preparation is recognized by HTM professionals nationwide.
“Our association started in 1974; we are celebrating our gold anniversary,” says President Leticia Reynolds, referring to the 50-year anniversary next year.
The group was created by biomed instructors who were pioneers in the early days of biomed associations.
“CABMET was created by a group of instructors at the USAMEOS school at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in 1974. Some of the founders were Jon Fink, Jim O’Brien and Gene Bacon. They were civilian instructors who thought certification would enhance the profession and give it more status within the medical community,” Reynolds says.
One of the group’s hallmark achievements was its work in CBET preparation. Its study group was the thing of biomed association lore.
“CABMET started the CBET Study group in 2004 by Dave Scott; the CABMET president at that time. In 2019, CABMET sold the study group to AAMI. During the 15 years CABMET ran the study group, over 2,000 technicians became certified,” Reynolds says.
She says that while she hasn’t been in CABMET for 50 years, she has been in CABMET since about 2008. She has been the president for the past seven years and has heard the stories.
“I can’t tell you for sure when CABMET held their first symposium, but I was told it was a one-day training held at a room at one of the local golf courses. Since then, it has grown into our three-day annual event. CABMET won AAMI’s HTM Association of the Year in both 2019 and 2023,” Reynolds says.
The group finds ways to serve the community and its membership.
“Besides education our members have a passion to help and share their knowledge. This could even be volunteering at Project C.U.R.E. or other similar organizations, participating at career days to share information about our field or even just teaching others. I love that this organization has so many opportunities to share what we are passionate about,” Reynolds says.
Annual Symposium
CABMET is also known for its successful symposiums. These events are an important way to gather members together in a more relaxed setting.
“Our symposium has grown over the years to a three-day event held the first Thursday, Friday and Saturday of August (next year’s is August 1-3). We do two days of education on a variety of topics: professional development, equipment maintenance, imaging, sterile processing and many other topics,” Reynolds says.
She says that this year’s event had the biggest turnout ever; between presenters, attendees and sponsors, there were 205 people in attendance.
“Besides the educational things, we offer networking opportunities with our happy hours, poker tournament and our golf tournament. [For] 2023, we moved to a new location very last minute due to an unexpected venue change, but it turned out great and we have found our future location. At this new location we are excited as it will allow for additional educational sessions (this year we ran out of classroom space for all of the people that wanted to present). We also moved to the format where we can print badges onsite for attendees, so we are able to get a more accurate list of actual attendees versus registered,” Reynolds says.
Besides symposiums, meetings are an important method for gathering members together, either in person or virtually.
“We hold quarterly meetings (January, March, May, October and December). December’s meeting is actually a Project C.U.R.E volunteer work day. Our meetings are usually held in-person along the front range. We do try to stream some of our meetings online when possible, but we haven’t perfected this. During COVID, while we didn’t have meetings every quarter, we moved to an online format so techs would be able to still have the opportunity to receive educational opportunities,” Reynolds says.
The group is also doing its part in helping the next generation of biomeds get through their training. They have a scholarship program for this purpose.
“At our symposium in August, we presented a check to our very first recipient. It is a $500 scholarship for a student that is enrolled in a biomed-related subject. It is pretty broad, but we know that there are several feeder programs, that while it isn’t biomed, will give a person the basic knowledge to potentially enter the biomed field. We had three people apply this year, so we are hoping to have additional applicants as we were late to getting the application posted,” Reynolds says.
She says that this year, the group will promote the scholarship at the careers days that they already have on the calendar.
“We were so excited to be able to provide this opportunity to a student this year,” Reynolds says.
Another important role that biomed associations play in the current environment of retiring HTM professionals is to promote the field and fill vacancies.
“We try to promote open positions from organizations across the state. We have a job posting link on our website. It is really to just promote the field to the younger generation, to try and get people in the field. Throughout the school year, we participate in several career days to promote the field with our hands-on display. We let them actually see how to test the equipment and how it works,” Reynolds says.
The pandemic impacted the way many biomed associations conduct business. That was the case with CABMET also.
“It really made us have to be flexible and open to change. We cancelled our symposium during COVID and had to think out-of-the-box on how to still be able to engage members when we couldn’t meet in-person. The goal is to not let obstacles like that stop us completely,” Reynolds says.
In the Centennial State, the HTM profession is well-represented by an equally historic biomed association, bringing the state’s biomeds together in an effort to promote the profession.
