Chad Clark is a second generation biomedical technician. His father, Stephen Clark, was trained as a biomed in the U.S. Navy. He worked for over 30 years as a biomed and most of that time was at one hospital. While working for the hospital many of the surgeons started to open their own outpatient surgery centers. They didn’t have enough equipment to have their own biomed, but still needed equipment inspected to be in compliance.
“They asked my father to help them out. It started out very part time but as other surgery centers opened, the company continued to grow,” Chad Clark said. “I was living in California at the time and contemplating a career change. I never really thought much about what my father did growing up, but I knew I needed to choose a career. My family and I moved back to Oregon in 2007 and at 29 years old I went back to college to earn an associate degree in electronics. I got hired at a hospital and earned my CBET a few years later. When my father retired, I took over the business. It continued to grow and in August 2017 I purchased Doctors Equipment Repair, another medical equipment repair company. The combination of these companies required hiring a part-time employee and helping a student earn continuing work education credits as they completed their associate degree in electronics.”
Q: What is the main focus of Doctors Equipment Repair?
A: Initially our main focus has been medical equipment repair, electrical safety testing and calibrations for local medical facilities that need to have their equipment serviced regularly but are not big enough or don’t have enough equipment to have a full-time biomedical technician. However, over time we have added distributorships and warranty repair for a select group of manufacturers and, most recently, we have added depot repair services for Molift and Ergolet portable ceiling lifts.
Q: What are some of the services your company offers?
A: On a local level we offer medical equipment repairs, calibrations and electrical safety inspections. Regionally we have been providing depot repair services for portable ceiling lifts. We support Molift Nomad and Air, and Ergolet Luna ceiling lifts and will be adding an additional manufacturer. These depot repair services include repairs, annual certifications (safe working load testing), battery replacements and accessory replacements such as hand controls and battery chargers. With our new advertisement in TechNation, we will be offering our depot repair services for portable ceiling lifts across the country.
Q: How does your company stand out in the medical equipment field?
A: On a local field service level, we stand out because of the consistency of the people who are taking care of these medical facilities. Both my father, the previous owner of Doctors Equipment Repair, and myself have been the same faces they have seen walk through the door and I think having that relationship earns us a lot of trust. Most of our customers want someone local who they know. As for our depot repair services, we try to make the whole process as easy as possible from prepaid shipping labels to service loaners for their lifts so there is as little down time as possible.
Q: Do you have any specific goals that you want your company to achieve in the near future?
A: Yes, I have many goals for the company. I would like to continue to grow all aspects of the business from depot repair, expanding the biomedical field service area and eventually add a sales department to help with the growth of our current distributorships and look for new partnerships. The biggest goal I have for our company is to give people who are looking to break into the biomedical industry an opportunity to learn the trade. The workforce for biomedical technicians is aging out and there are fewer schools today and less candidates to take those jobs. I have found this to be an incredibly rewarding career and would love to share that with those who want to learn the trade.