By K. Richard Douglas
Gerceia Lee, CBET, is a Tech III at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.
“My decades of experience as an HTM/biomed have provided me the opportunity to grow professionally, personally and, more importantly; spiritually,” says Lee.
Lee works in the biomedical engineering department at Children’s of Alabama. His statement embodies everything that an HTM professional could hope to take away from the profession.
Lee’s introduction to HTM happened while in college.
“While attending Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City, Alabama, my oldest brother gave me a catalog of the programs offered at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Health Professions. I discovered the biomedical equipment technician program in the catalog. It was intriguing, being that a couple of my brothers and myself always tinkered with electronics amongst other items,” he says.
After entering the program, he says that he received training on electronics and certain biomedical instruments during labs and students were responsible for building certain electrical circuits.
“Also, we had clinical rotations during surgical cases at UAB Hospital where we observed the operations of various medical apparatus, assisted with repair and maintenance at UAB Callahan Eye Clinic and the Lakeshore Rehab Foundation,” Lee remembers.
His biomed career started off with an internship at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama in 1991. After that, he moved to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, until mid-1995. He worked as a Clinical Engineering Technician I.
For the next two years, Lee worked as a Rad-Tech X-ray field service technician and also did some diagnostic imaging service before moving to his present employer in August of 1997.
The Best Possible Service and Repair
Lee made good use of his HTM thinking cap to return a specialized device to service. He was also up to the challenge when his department took on special projects.
“The biggest challenge that I have encountered is getting parts and/or service needed for equipment that could have a negative impact on patient service/care. Several months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Gait Biometric System in our PT/OT department began to malfunction and eventually became dysfunctional. The main function of the Gait system is to capture the step patterns of the patient walking across a platform composed of heavy aluminum plates using video images from the camera system,” Lee says.
He explains that the collected data from the platform system is converted into a mathematical equation which is used to treat the patient’s rehabilitation process.
“There are several factors that influence the collected data such as the type of injury the patient is recovering from, footwear, or fatigue of the patient to name a few. Most importantly, the primary determinant of a patient’s gait is their skeleton. The vendor of the system is based in Switzerland, and the service rep was not able to render service at the time because they were not allowed to travel out of the country,” Lee says.
He says that in order to get the system back up and running in a timely fashion, without canceling additional appointments/services, the rep expedited the aluminum plates — four that weighed about 100 pounds each — directly to the department. Instructions on how to replace the aluminum plates were emailed ahead of the delivery.
“After receiving the parts, and some lifting help, the system was repaired in five to six hours – so we thought. After the system was powered on, it was discovered that a fuse was blown on the computer system that we did not have on hand. Thank God for our local Forbes Distributing Company in Homewood. They had the fuse on hand that was needed. I traveled to Forbes and purchased the fuse; the rest is history,” Lee says.
He says that the biggest special project he remembers participating in was preparing for the opening of the Benjamin Russel campus in 2012 and a GE Carescape monitor project.
“In 2012, our department worked many long days and weekends to inventory all of the new equipment and enter the items into the database along with handling scheduled maintenance and service calls. Also, our department worked in teams to assist the different intensive care units when patients were being transported to the new facility just in case there was equipment malfunction,” he recalls.
He says that during the GE Carescape monitor project, the department worked in teams to inventory all the new devices, build new alarm boxes, enter devices into the equipment database, deinstall the old equipment and install the new equipment.
“There were challenges that presented themselves during the process and our HTM/biomed, with the assistance of HTM/biomed interns, made the necessary adjustments to achieve the goals that were set by the Children’s of Alabama Healthcare System as a whole and one of the core values of the system came together; ‘Teamwork,’” Lee says.
He says that an award he received last year could not be topped.
“Receiving the September 2023 Impact Award, here at Children’s of Alabama, I feel is the greatest,” Lee says.
Off the clock, Lee enjoys grilling, fishing and yard projects around his yard.
“Also, I love antique cars, classic muscle cars and attending drag racing events when time permits,” he says.
Lee says he has a big family.
“Married to my wonderful wife, Sandra, and I have one daughter, Endya, who is truly daddy’s girl. I still have my parents (role models and heroes), siblings (two sisters and four brothers), nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews,” he says.
After a 33-year career in HTM, Lee says that while working with HTM professionals his focus has always been to “ensure the best possible equipment service and equipment repair in order for the patient to receive safe and quality medical care.” Nothing more needs to be said.
BIOMETRICS
Favorite book:
Bible
Favorite movie:
“300”
Favorite food:
Fish and ribs
Hidden talent:
Ability to work with different personalities and make people smile.
Favorite part of being a biomed?
Knowing that my work is a vital component that will assist with making a positive difference in a child’s life.
What’s on my bench?
1. Electrical Safety Analyzer
2. Optivisor
3. SimCube
4. Tool bag
5. Snacks .
