By Matt Spencer
The biomedical field is a tight-knit community. I have always been impressed with how easily information is shared and how willing everyone is to help a fellow technician. Platforms like MedWrench facilitate this communication flow and help make this large, diverse industry feel a little more manageable.
Edge Biomedical proudly employs biomeds from different backgrounds, with a variety of experience. Several of our technicians come from hospital settings, where a Jack-(or Jill)-of-All-Trades attitude is essential. We also have several graduates from the DoD BMET schools, who have touched a vast number of devices to educate themselves to sufficiently cope with just about anything that comes up while deployed. Edge employs several veterans who have been stationed overseas and charged with maintaining our Armed Forces’ health care facilities. In those, sometimes unforgiving environments, the inner-McGyver is often summoned to make sure the best possible care is provided to our men and women in uniform. By the way, a BIG thank you, guys!
Edge is constantly investing in factory training with dozens of manufacturers in order to serve our customers. All our work-family members come with their own history of training certifications, but we are never finished learning. In 2018, our technicians participated in seven factory training courses, and 2019 already has several more scheduled. These trainings are always at the request of our customers, and we are happy to accommodate. This constant expansion of expertise is both helpful to our customers and fulfills our technicians’ insatiable desire to learn more. These investments help our technicians by increasing their value to market, while making Edge more valuable to her partners.
Our Edge work-family focuses on developing a culture of community and support. Each of our technicians possess a slightly different perspective and level of familiarity with different pieces of equipment. If one of our techs has a question about equipment that another one of our techs has a great deal of experience on, they are only a quick phone call away. Making and taking these calls fosters an environment where sharing is encouraged.
In addition to training, Edge spends a great deal of time and energy working on our culture. Our work-family gets together a couple of times a year to make sure we don’t get disconnected by being spread across the country. Pulling techs out of their markets for anything is tough … but very important. We use this time to catch up on successes, challenges and plans for the future. After sharing new training and getting work things out of the way, we leave plenty of time to have fun. Whether touring a distillery, playing an escape game, touring a city’s bar district or going for a swim in 5-degree weather, Edge loves to create strong, personal ties within our organization. These events are designed to 1) show our techs how important they are to us, and 2) provide a higher sense of purpose in taking care of the equipment that takes care of patients.
Communication is an art that can make or break a business. We understand that this art form can never be completely mastered, but Edge is committed to doing whatever is necessary to continually improve how we communicate with each other, our customers and our vendors.