By K. Richard Douglas
A sense of humor can go a long way; just ask Mike Lane, CBET, who is the supervisor of Clinical Engineering at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. Lane works at the facility for Aramark. He says that TechNation readers should get to know him in person. “I should be on everybody’s bucket list for a meet and greet,” Lane says.
“Like so many biomeds, Lane found the HTM field because it was cooler than what he was used to.“It was purely by accident,” Lane explains. “I was an electrician by trade, working at my first hospital when, one day after running conduit in a very hot attic, my boss asked me if I wanted to apply for a position in the biomed department. I did not know what all was entailed, but I will tell you when I walked into that nicely air conditioned shop, with some great blues coming over the excellent sound system, met the manager who was a cool guy, I immediately signed up. The rest is history,” he says.
Lane’s formal training included a stint that offered the opportunity to dodge bullets. He was a member of the U.S. Navy at the time.
“I was enrolled in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Program as a power plant operator, but after one year of brutal intensive electrical/mechanical training, with an additional six-year commitment to the service, I backed out and they rewarded me with a one-year tour working on riverboats in Vietnam,” he says. “They showed me.”
Lane handled the electrical repairs for the boats.
“After finishing that tour, I was sent to electrical ‘B’ school and then a motor rewind school. It was all rewarding,” he adds.
Using Available Resources
After being discharged from the Navy, Lane got a heating and air conditioning contractor’s license in California and ran a small business for five years before succumbing to some tough economic times. He then found a more stable line of work.
“Since then I have had a working relationship with my current employer (Aramark) for a good part of 25 years as a technician and supervisor,” he says.
While living in Big Bear Lake, California, Lane’s home was heavily damaged in an earthquake. That was just enough motivation to move out of the region and he relocated to Las Vegas.
Aramark has had the contract with University Medical Center of Southern Nevada for 20 years and Lane has enjoyed working with his competent team of biomeds there. Like so many hospitals today, Lane’s facility has the same budgetary challenges, but his Aramark team works efficiently to keep the equipment up to snuff just the same. Even though some equipment is becoming a little older, Lane points out that the hospital performs great and that “our cardiology and pathology departments are nationally recognized.”
Lane says that the department is so integrated into the hospital that some colleagues, in other departments, are surprised to hear that they work for a third-party service provider.
Lane’s department does a great job of maintaining some equipment that hasn’t yet been replaced. They updated 16 rooms of surgical lights working at night so as not to disrupt any scheduled surgeries. They knocked off the project in a week. They also updated a central station and formatted new hard drives, working on a weekend, which saved the hospital money.
It helps to have a sense of humor in the HTM profession and apparently it has helped him during a dedicated career.
“Our department has become specialists in keeping older, but critical operating systems running, much to the amazement of vendors and hospital management,” Lane says. “Sometimes, I even amaze myself.”
Outside of Work
Lane is active in the HTM community. He helped launch the Nevada Healthcare Technology Association in 2012. Several individuals in his department are active in the association, including in leadership positions. The association seeks to bring together the different groups of biomeds in Nevada. Lane says that vendors have been really supportive.
Away from work, the golf course, a group of friends and an occasional stogie make for just the right combination for relaxation.
“I’m an avid golfer and take advantage of the wonderful music scene that Las Vegas has to offer,” he says. “I have lived here for 20 years and never regretted it. I also collect antiques and enjoy a great cigar now and then.”
“I’ve been with my wonderful wife Patricia for almost 35 years, raised two boys, Sean and Chris, and have a cool dog — a Papillion — named Patches. My mom, Jeanne, is 87 and is still very active and I have two brothers who aren’t as handsome as I am,” Lane adds.
Personal recognition is always appreciated and Lane was recently praised by his employer.
“I was just selected by Aramark, along with 199 others out of 270,000 employees, as a ‘Ring of Stars’ and they rewarded me with an all-expenses paid vacation for me and my wife to a resort in Scottsdale, Arizona,” he says.
“It was an event to remember, as we were coddled for five days, and I got to meet all the hierarchy of Aramark and all the selectees of this hugely diversified corporation.”
Aramark just launched the Ring of Stars program last year. It is meant “to honor those who deliver outstanding service” to the company’s clients.
Lane says it helps to have a sense of humor in the HTM profession and apparently it has helped him during a dedicated career.