By K. Richard Douglas
MercyHealth Javon Bea Hospital, in Rockford, Illinois, is a 563,000-square-foot, 194-bed hospital with advanced operating and surgical suites. The facility includes comprehensive cardiac, vascular, peripheral and neurovascular interventional laboratory and a rooftop healing garden.
The hospital’s HTM department includes Tech 3 Jake Calhoun. Calhoun garnered an extensive amount of electronics experience before entering the HTM field.
“I saw an ad for an open position in biomed at the hospital, after working 17 years on component level repairs. I knew it would be a lot of testing of equipment, verification of operations than actual component level repair,” he says.
Through his work in other industries, Calhoun had obtained substantial on-the-job training and experience.
“I was an electronics technician for an automatic door rebuild facility for 11 years started in 2003, then repaired, built and assembled conveyor belt electronic scales for six years. I started as a biomedical technician I in 2020 and am now a biomed tech 3,” he says.
Calhoun’s areas of expertise include OEM-training on patient lifts, medical lasers, ultrasound, X-ray and fluoro-radiology equipment. He attended Gadsden State Community College with additional training through GE, RSTI, DirectMed and Laser Training Institute.
Cross-Industry Training
Calhoun’s involvement over the years working with electronics has presented several challenges and has contributed to his ability to be resourceful.
“The biggest challenge in working on electronics was engineering changing software that required board modifications. Initially we had to hand solder half inch wires to .5mm spacing pins on a processor that took half hour per board. I was able to work with a company that made preformed traces that allowed this process to be two minutes to modify,” he says.
“With the help of the software sales technician, we were able to build an automated testing system for the belt scales, reducing the time from half hour to five minutes and allowed zero human errors,” Calhoun adds.
He says that this saved the company $90,000 for just the automated testing system and increased production.
“In the medical world, it’s finding exact components for equipment to save thousands of dollars when needed. Recently, just found the exact buck boost chip for six video converters that has saved the company $12,000,” Calhoun says.
Electronics has always been in Calhoun’s blood. In high school, he won second-place in the Alabama State Skills USA competition in electronics. While in college in 2003, he received an “outstanding achievement award” trophy.
“I enjoy working on electronics and learning new things about electronic circuits. It started well before taking courses in high school with curiosity of electronics. I took apart things at home, that were broken attempting to repair them. I took two years in high school, learning about the basics of electronic theory, completed my associate degree at Gadsden State Community College, in Gadsden, Alabama.
He says that he has been actively learning about electronics since then.
“I moved states and landed my first job at Addison Automatics Inc. where over 200 different models of electronic door controllers were available to build my troubleshooting skills. I left there to work at a company called Belt-way Scales Inc. It was the first and only OEM job I’ve had,” Calhoun says.
He worked there for six years, calibrating A/D circuits, flashing boot loaders and assembling the electronic boxes.
“From there, I landed a role at Mercyhealth, which has catapulted me into harder and harder equipment. I’ve been able to learn with others and share my learnings with newer technicians. I do greatly enjoy working in the medical field. I also enjoy showing others about electronic repair as well to broaden their knowledge. The biomedical world has opened up many avenues in learning other equipment that most people wouldn’t use day to day. I enjoy working with staff daily in getting solutions to their needs,” Calhoun says.
He says that over the years; to supplement his income, he was able to create a business helping many in his area, as well as globally.
“My YouTube channel has 11.5 million views from people sourcing out repairs for their products. It is a good feeling being able to help out others,” Calhoun says.
Away from work, Calhoun enjoys kayaking and repairing electronics at home.
“I share these repairs on YouTube, helping others throughout the world. I also like to design and assemble my own circuit boards,” he says.
He has been married to his wife, Teresa, for 19 years.
Calhoun proves that an accumulated electronics background serves a biomed very well. He is an asset to his employer and the patients who benefit by his knowledge, as well as the YouTube community who learn from his expertise.
BIOMETRICS
Favorite book:
Anything electronic circuit related
Favorite movie:
“Predator” or “Pay It Forward”
Hidden talent:
I can juggle 3 balls and wiggle my ears.
Favorite food:
Cheese
Favorite part of being a biomed?
Making staff’s bad day be better.
