By K. Richard Douglas
Anyone who has ever traversed the state of Ohio knows that it is composed of flat plains, rolling hills and river valleys, along with beaches along Lake Erie. The state contains the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Dayton is home to the nation’s largest aviation museum.
The state is also home be a large contingent of HTM professionals. The state’s biomed association is the Healthcare Technology Management Association of Ohio (HTMA-OH).
The groups officers are President Ryan Gonzalez, Vice President Roger Hale, Treasurer Ken Mylar and Secretary Jasmine Zirkle.
“HTMA-OH can trace its roots back to 1974. After several instances of going dormant and restarting under different names; HTMA-OH was reborn in 2015 under the current name,” Gonzalez says.
He says that the HTMA-OH organization was started by Ken Burkholder (retired) and Glenn Schneider, among others.
“The Ohio Clinical Engineering Association started in 1974 as a group of hospital medical equipment engineers who were a part of a joint safety committee group of the Greater Cleveland Hospital Association. These engineers had a disagreement with the city of Cleveland over electrical testing laboratory requirements for medical equipment that was in use in the city. After this disagreement was resolved, these engineers continued to meet on a regular basis and the organization Clinical Engineering Technology Association (CETA) was formed,” Gonzalez says.
He says that in 1980, the words “North Coast” were added to the name to designate the geographic area of Northern Ohio near Lake Erie and NCCETA was created. In 2002, after being dormant for a few years, NCCETA was brought back into existence. In 2003, the decision was made by the 2003 Operations Committee to make the organization state wide and the new name “Ohio Clinical Engineering Association,” or OCEA as the acronym, was selected for the new and larger organization. The association remained active for a number of years until again falling dormant.
“In 2015, thanks to several leaders in the community, it was reborn as the Healthcare Technology Management Association of Ohio. Since its inception, the HTMA-OH has slowly grown its community reach, visibility and association size. Prioritizing bringing together healthcare technology professionals around the state for networking and education,” Gonzalez says.
Annually the association successfully conducts two lunch and learn webinars, two social outings and one multi-day conference.
“Each of these three activities are designed to be free or as low a cost as possible for attendees. We believe it is our job as an association to make these events as inclusive as possible, as well as continually improving them based on feedback from our attendees and vendor sponsors,” Gonzalez says.
He says that the lunch and learn webinars are aimed at providing free, relevant education directly to the HTM front-line staff with the least disruption to their daily work-life.
“Our free social outings are aimed to bring a sense of community and interaction between HTM professionals that work in the same area of the state. The annual conference and expo bring it all together, to include frontline staff, leadership, third-parties, vendors and students. We combine education, social outings, and fun to give the whole state a MD Expo feel, but in their own community,” Gonzalez adds.
He says that the HTMA-OH holds board meetings the first Wednesday of every month. These are not simulcast to non-board members.
“We host at least two lunch and learn webinars each year that are broadcast for anyone to join,” Gonzalez says.
Doing the Annual Conference the Right Way
The association has a very well-organized and comprehensive annual conference.
“The annual HTMA-OH Conference and Expo is always held on the first Friday in February. The goal of this event is to be as inclusive as possible and appeal to all levels of the HTM profession. From college students to the C-suite, there is something for everyone and it is priced at a level to allow anyone to attend,” Gonzalez says.
He says that the association kicks off the conference with a Top Golf event the night before the conference.
“It is important to our association to make this social event free for all attendees. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we host 125 HTM professionals to three hours of golf, food and adult beverages. Making this event free for attendees allows for maximum participation from all aspects of the HTM community. We have regularly seen HTM shops use this as a chance to have a fully paid shop outing. Vendors see this as a great opportunity to organically interact with the hospital staff and leadership that they conduct business with, but outside of a professional setting,” Gonzalez says.
He says that the conference and expo are a full day event centered around 15 educational classes on a variety of topics to appeal to biomed technicians, imaging technicians, supervisors, managers and above.
“The event is free for students and $20 for all other attendees. As well as education, breakfast, lunch, and dozens of prizes are provided at no additional costs. Lunch is served during the mid-day keynote speaker presentation. We have dedicated expo times to interact with your favorite vendors and potentially meet new future favorites. We wrap up the day with roundtable discussions on important industry influencing topics followed by a social happy hour,” Gonzalez says.
The conference has been a big success for HTMA-OH, and each year it has grown and improved.
“Thanks to the amazing dedication of our board who have continually worked to grow our reach and attendees, as well as feedback and contributions by our vendor sponsors, our conference has doubled and tripled in size over the last few years. This allows us to provide even more value to each and every person who attends,” Gonzalez says.
The group’s 2024 conference was a significant jump forward for the organization.
“Moving locations from previous years, we knew we had the opportunity to bring in more attendees and an improved experience. Our new location allows us to bring everyone together into the same building, add additional education classes, and maximize the visibility of our vendors,” Gonzalez says.
He says that most importantly, they saw the Ohio HTM community come out in larger numbers than ever before.
“Almost double the attendance of the previous year, the true highlight was seeing so many technicians and leaders from hospitals all around the state interacting at Top Golf, at the post conference happy hour and between classes. We truly achieved our goal of bringing together the community,” Gonzalez adds.
He says that the association has begun planning the 2025 event and will be looking to keep expanding the success they have had in the previous few years.
“Better education, better prizes, and more engagement is the goal,” Gonzalez says.
What more can biomeds ask for in a state organization? Education, community and sponsor-supported activities that defray the costs. The HTMA-OH is doing it all right.
