By K. Richard Douglas
Texas was its own country from 1836 to 1845. It is the second largest state in the U.S. (behind Alaska) and has 30 million plus in population. The state has been the topic of several famous songs, and ZZ Top, Christopher Cross, Mac Davis, Norah Jones and Usher have all called the state home.
Biomeds are not exempt from the great distinctions that the state offers, and those in the northern portion of the Texas have a biomed association as acclaimed as the state itself.
“The original association was incorporated on October 20, 1975, as the ‘North Texas Biomedical Association.’ Our chapter re-branded in 2017 as the Healthcare Technology Management Association of North Texas (HTMA-NTX),” says group President Webb Clark.
The association’s predecessor organization laid the foundation for a biomed organization in northern Texas.
“NTBA was established in October of 1975. The association ran for several years but eventually quit meeting in the mid- to late-1980s. Around 1990 is when several biomeds in the Dallas/Ft. Worth [area] decided to start having meetings again,” Clark says.
He says that they contacted all the local hospitals and got enough interest to start meeting again.
“Meetings were held at Arlington Memorial until moving to Children’s in Dallas. The meetings in Arlington typically numbered around 50 people, and when held in Dallas, increased to about 75 people attending,” Clark adds.
Mike Long, Walt Christianson, Terry Greenfield, Frank Ford, Bob Baisden and David Braeutigam helped revive the NTBA around 1990 by holding meetings at Arlington Memorial in Arlington, Texas every two months.
“Mike worked for Parkland, Walt worked for Presbyterian, Terry worked for HCA Lewisville, Frank worked at Methodist, Bob worked at Arlington Memorial and David worked for Baylor Health Care System,” Clark explains.
He says that his chapter continued as the NTBA until in 2017, when they rebranded themselves as HTMA-NTX (Healthcare Technology Management Association of North Texas). The naming convention was recommended by Pat Lynch just after HTM became the new term for biomed.
“The new acronym is better suited for our chapter as we serve to connect folks from across the HTM spectrum – not only biomedical equipment technicians, but also imaging technicians and other HTM professionals whether they be administrative, educational, ISO, OEM, or social media ‘influencers’ who live and work in North Texas,” Clark says.
He says that most of the original biomeds who revived the NTBA have passed away or moved out of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
“David Braeutigam stayed committed to the organization and is considered the ‘Father Abraham’ for our group as it stands today. David was responsible for creating HTMA-NTX, has worked as the newsletter writer, president numerous times, secretary several times and is still active with our organization today,” Clark says.
Creating HTM Community
The planning for an annual symposium has been in the works and Clark has probed the brains of those who have gone before. Experience is the best teacher.
“I spent the better part of last year meeting with officers from various HTM societies around the country. One thing that all these chapters have in common is their annual symposium. To date, Texas has not had one. Rather, we’ve waited for AAMI or MD Expo to roll through the Lone Star state every 2-5 years. We know that based on our population, as well as our health care footprint, that an annual conference in Texas would provide a great vehicle to connect and celebrate our Texas’ HTM community,” he says.
Clark points out that it would also provide a huge draw for our corporate sponsors to come interface with members.
“Obviously, building a multi-day conference from the ground up is no easy task, but we are committed to it and the wheels are in motion. HTMA-NTX is partnering with our sister chapter in Houston (HTMA-TX) to lay the framework for the inaugural event, which will likely be in 2025-2026,” he says.
Beyond the planned symposium, the group does host more frequent meetings, with the goals of hosting one event per quarter in Dallas and Fort Worth; respectively.
“Our new goal is going to be to setup two educational events and two social events in Dallas and in Fort Worth. Ultimately, we are looking at eight meetings throughout the Metroplex in a calendar year as well as one chapter-wide social event. We are always looking for new sponsors to come address our group and sponsor these events,” Clark says.
The pandemic forced the association to a series of virtual events via Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
“Now that we are on the other side, our chapter will likely look to stream our educational sessions online and repost them to our social media channels,” Clark says.
The group has some ties to local organizations, and this has put them in touch with students and a meeting location.
“David Braeutigam is a professor at Collin College and HTMA-NTX has allowed several meetings to be held there. We also have had students from biomed schools at Collin College, MediSend, and TSTC attend past meetings,” Clark says.
Biomeds in North Texas have a local symposium to look forward to.
“The best times are yet to come. One interesting aspect about the symposium we are building is that our board is made up of some really heavy hitters from DFW HTM leadership. Houston’s board is the same way. In other words, when it comes time to put on our symposium our sponsors can expect big buy-in from the biomedical departments across the state,” Clark says.
He says that the group has a great mixed bag of young and experienced HTM professionals serving as officers and representatives from almost every major health care network in DFW.
“It’s an exciting time for our org and you can feel the electricity when we meet. Big things are in the works,” Clark says.
While the pandemic threw a wrench in the plans and operations of many biomed organizations, Clark says that the downtime and the impact of the pandemic really highlighted the importance of HTMA-NTX.
“As a result, we recentered our mission and messaging and have been able to build a much more robust team to take HTMA-NTX into its next chapter. I fully believe that within the next two years our organization will be the most dynamic HTM society in the United States,” he says.
Learn more at htma-ntx.org.
