The Indiana Biomedical Society holds its annual conference; RSTI celebrates 20 years; Infomill names The Results Group to promote its PartsArena product in the Americas; and more.

Biomeds Convene on Indianapolis for Annual Conference
With winter storm warnings in effect, more than 250 Hoosier biomeds from across the state traveled to Indianapolis for the Indiana Biomedical Society’s (IBS) annual conference, held earlier this year. The conference offered members and attendees four separate training seminars presented by 10 industry manufacturers and educators.

The opening keynote address, given by Dave Francouer and Karen Waninger, both from TriMedx, covered one of the fundamental topics discussed throughout the conference: preventive maintenance, and its relevance with regard to today’s reliable technology.

Attendees also participated in training sessions put on by B Braun, Fluke Biomedical, Alaris Medical Systems, Black Box Network Services, Vocera, BlackBerry, DITEC, and Total Repair Express.

The daylong conference concluded with new officer elections and award presentations. Kelly VanDeWalker of Community Hospital of Indianapolis was elected president, the vice president position went to Brad Garner of Methodist Hospitals at the Southlake Campus, and Dan Crandall of TriMedx was elected

secretary. The IBS also presented its Professional of the Year Award to Steve Erdosy of the Indiana Heart Hospital in Indianapolis.

The IBS holds mem-bership meetings every other month and can be found on the Web at www.indianabiomedical.com.

Who You Gonna Call? As a former service manager for a third-party ultrasound service organization in Southern California, Kristen Kennebeck was repeatedly asked by customers who they could call when their machines needed service. “Because I emphasized customer service to my employees, I would go on a wild goose chase trying to find a service technician who could do the service on a specific piece of equipment, from a particular manufacturer, and in a particular area,” Kennebeck said. “I actually attempted this multiple times, sometimes finding what they needed, often not. It frustrated me—someone in the industry—how frustrating it must be for the end-user.” Kennebeck took matters into her own hands and developed an online reference database of service companies to simplify the process of locating technicians in a certain area who were able to service specific types of equipment. Kennebeck’s Web site, www.medservfinder.com,   is a free online database for the medical community to access information on service providers nationwide. Service companies pay a nominal fee ($50 per month) to be listed in unlimited modalities, categories, manufacturers, and regions. Users can search by modality, category, manufacturer, and region to find the exact match for their service needs.

It’s Been a Good 20 Years! Members of the Radiological Service Training Institute (RSTI) celebrated the organization’s 20th anniversary last month in San Diego. More than 100 industry professionals from around the world attended the symposium and celebration. With the theme Hospital-Wide Digital Integration, the symposium played host to more than 30 topical courses, as well as a special keynote address from Herman Oosterwijk of Otech Inc, a health care technology consulting and training firm based in Aubrey, Tex. Otech engaged attendees with his discussion, “PACS Challenges for Service Professionals.” The symposium also was considered a reunion among peers who have worked together in the industry since RSTI’s inception in 1985. The organization’s president, Terry Speth, hosted a reunion dinner to celebrate all companies involved with RSTI and to discuss the next 20 years.

The Results Group to Rep PartsArena in Americas
Infomill (Burlington, Mass), a provider of mobile technologies for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul market, recently selected The Results Group, (TRG of Toronto, Canada) to promote its PartsArena product in the Americas. PartsArena allows service technicians to visually identify and order parts in the field through the use of handheld computers and Smartphones. TRG will target customers in the United States, Canada, and Latin America by way of PartsArena’s multi-language functionality.