HTM On The Line with BRYANT HAWKINS SR.

Crafting Tomorrow's Care with Maggie Berkey's HTM Insights

February 13, 2024 • Bryant Hawkins Sr. • Season 2 • Episode 3

Share episode

Join us as we discuss the remarkable journey of Maggie Berkey, whose life took an unexpected turn in the wake of the 9/11 events, leading her to forge a path in Health Technology Management (HTM). In this podcast episode, Maggie candidly shares her personal experiences, navigating the delicate balance between family life and a up-and-coming career. Discover the invaluable support systems that propelled her forward and learn about the profound impact of community and self-advocacy on professional growth. Maggie's narrative embodies the essence of innovation, adaptability, and dedication within the realm of Health Technology Management. Follow the link to listen to her inspiring story on the “HTM On The Line” podcast.

This podcast is sponsored by The College  of  Biomedical Equipment Technology. You can find out more information about this outstanding institution at CBET.EDU. 

Support the show

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Hello everyone, Welcome to HTM on the line podcast, the podcast that is for HTM by HTM. I'm your host, Bryant Hawkins senior. Have you ever considered how someone's career trajectory can shift dramatically due to a national tragedy like 9 11? Our guest, Mackie Burkey from Kearney, Nebraska, experienced just that, leading her from ladies electronics to the heart of health care technology management. Maggie's involvement in communities, project management and equipment maintenance reveals the complexities of HTM and underscores the critical role it plays in patient care. The episode culminates in a forward looking discussion on the necessity of adaptability and the spirit of continuous learning within HTM. We close with a nod to the future, emphasizing the importance of nurturing the next generation skills in robotics and programming to meet the industry's evolving demands. So settle in and immerse yourself in this captivating and enlightening podcast experience. Maggie, welcome to HTM on the line. How are you doing today?

Maggie Berkey:

I'm doing great. How are you doing?

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Bryant, I'm doing well. I'm glad you took a little time out your business schedule to come hang out with me this evening. Hopefully we can have a good time talking with each other.

Maggie Berkey:

Yes, sir, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for inviting me and for what you're doing for the field, sir.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

What inspired you to enter the HTM industry? What got you on this journey? I'm curious.

Maggie Berkey:

Honestly, it was my mom. She had seen a posting in the local newspaper that there was a laser electronics program starting at my alma mater and encouraged me to give it a try. She thought it would be more of a man's field and said that it would be something I could do and would help me get some job security and fast forward. I went to two years electronics equivalent and graduated from the laser program, started working in that field and 9-11 came along and shut down a lot of the jobs that were in that industry. So that pushed me into working as a home health aide and that's where I found out how hard nursing professionals work and I really loved taking care of people, but I also loved to fix problems.

Maggie Berkey:

And so fast forward a few more years and I got married and started having babies and my husband said well, why are we paying for this education that you're not using? So we were back where by Sioux Falls, south Dakota, where my alma mater is, and I went and took a look at what there was and they had a one year bio med track that as long as you had the two years of electronics equivalent, you could get that degree. And so I went for it and all the doors just seemed to open and it all flowed really easy. So I kind of knew it was what I should be doing and after graduating I probably put out at least 80 applications and sat for probably seven interviews and Vicki Snyder at the University of Minnesota Medical Center took a chance on me and I. It's kind of history from there.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Wow. Now every time I ask someone, how did they get into the HTM industry? Everyone has a different story, but I've never had no one tell me they mother introduced them to the industry. So it keeps the list keeps getting longer and that's pretty awesome. I mean, how did you feel when your mom was like what? You trying to work on lasers? Did that kind of make you say, what is this about?

Maggie Berkey:

I mean, you got to understand, my mom was a truck driver. Okay, she just a strong, caring, fearless woman and you know she had eight kids and so she didn't have any downtime and but she really just the smartest woman that I know and really just knowing that she supported me in it, it gave me the confidence to even try. She was ahead of her time, I think is just a real forward thinker and somebody who knew that it didn't matter what your gender was. You could do anything if you put your mind to it.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Definitely, definitely Now. Can you describe your current role at the moment At the hospital? What is your current role? What is your main responsibilities?

Maggie Berkey:

So you name it, and I'm probably been working on it in the last several months. I work at an award winning critical access hospital in rural Nebraska. I'm one of a handful of in house programmed for. I work for an independent service organization called bioelectronics. They're centered in Lincoln but I report to this hospital in Holdridge, Nebraska, every day and I'll tell you I've got a lot of hats. I'm part of the maintenance team but I sit on the safety and environmental care committee, capital planning committee. I have had lots of new equipment come in in the years since I started, so several projects along with just supporting the nurses and doing PMs and repairs, and I contribute to the success of both my ISO and my little community hospital. So I really get a little taste of everything in a day. And that's really what I love the most. Probably about HTM is that there's no two days alike and you get to kind of see where the day takes you.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Absolutely no. Two days, no two hours sometimes.

Maggie Berkey:

That's so true, so true.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Especially, I remember I went to this small hospital in a city called Gratit, michigan, and the facilities, guys, was also slash security, also slash housekeeping. I mean they did it all except by a man and at one guy did that. But everybody was like all hands on deck every day. So I kind of can visualize what you're saying there. That's great. Now you mentioned projects. What can you, I guess, share with us one of your most proud projects or accomplishments that you have accomplished in your HTM journey? Can you share one with us?

Maggie Berkey:

It's hard to narrow it down to one, honestly. Oh, two, three. I'll tell you the first big project I was on at the University of Minnesota. I thought, wow, they're really trusting me with something humongous here, and it was the intensive care unit turning over their monitors. But when I went to the schoolhouse in St Cloud Tech, st Cloud, minnesota, that was a pretty cool project, I would say. We partnered up with the nursing program at the college and so the students in the Biomed program got to do the Biomed job for the nursing program at the college. So that was pretty cool little project and we ended up getting an article published in the Journal of Clinical Engineering.

Maggie Berkey:

Creating a mock environment for the real world, I think, is what that was called, and it was just something that was evidence that we can take down some of these silos and really work together so everybody wins. Of course there's the apprenticeship that I obviously didn't invent the idea of an apprenticeship, but I had heard people talking in the field for a number of years about how we need people and how the workforce is aging and what can we do to solve this problem. And one day my boss's boss came to the shop and said there's this big old mess. How are we going to clean up this mess? And it just hit me If you hire somebody, we can not only clean up the mess, but I can build you a Biomed. I know I've taught this stuff, so why wouldn't we? And that kind of rolled into something way bigger than I had imagined it would.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Yeah, that's good, that's all standing. So you, part of the brains behind this apprenticeship programs that's sweeping the United States right now with a lot of ISOs are involved with this program. So congrats, thank you. Thank you, you have a print this program when you're trying to become a plumber, so I guess you can apply the same thing, and it's funny how you oh sorry, go ahead.

Maggie Berkey:

I was just going to say most of the stuff I know I learned on the job and you know you can learn a little bit about electronics from a book and you can memorize your medical terminology, but it's really when the boots are on the ground that the real learning begins. I would argue that most of us have been apprenticing since we got into the field. We just it wasn't formal.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Definitely, definitely. Because, like I remember you probably too when you was in school, when you got to that internship, that's when all the lights cut off, you're like, oh, okay, now it makes sense. And that's a point you made just made me think we've said that we probably all are continuing with apprentice because you kind of have to, because the way the industry is changing it used to be, I guess, it was changing every 10 years, 15 hours, like every two to three years. Technology is changing and since we're talking about that, do you notice any type of trends that's been shaping the future of HTO? Do you see anything out there?

Maggie Berkey:

I think we all see that AI is going to turn our heads around and round. It's already started to impact some things like news and photos, and it's only going to continue to creep out there and change the way we think and the work we do. The pandemic pushed a few people to office out of their homes. I don't know that Biomeds will ever get the luxury of spending too much time, but I do think it will be interesting to see how the next generation of technology shapes the future of HTM.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

We're already being impacted by things like AI though you mentioned AI, I was fortunate enough to attend the RSNA conference and GE had AI on the CT system With the system would do. It would adjust the table height up down back forward all from a little big brother camera above the table To fact that's helping the end user. Most likely it's going to have some effect on the service part too. Ai start having defects something like that it's definitely going to be in the future. As HTM professionals, we're going to have to get with the chareons. Some people might not want to get with that trend, but it's coming.

Maggie Berkey:

Absolutely. I know a lot of people when I started didn't really care too much about computers or the network and pointed the finger over to the IT department and said that's trouble for them. I think we all know that we do our patients and our clinical staff and injustice if we don't know at least the basics of some of these systems and understand kind of that behind the wall, what's going on with that infrastructure. It just helps us solve the problems more quickly. When I first started in Biomed there were a lot fewer computers in medical devices, but today almost all the equipment has some kind of a chip in it and it's getting smarter and smarter. Good news, I think, for the field is that we still, with AI and with all these revolutions in technology, we still have plenty of opportunities. You tell me a computer that you've ever met that didn't glitch and it just doesn't happen. We've got stuff to do. It might just look a little different how we do it.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Absolutely these young people. They know how to work the computers and tablets, the VR headsets, I mean that's a lot of things that the older ones like myself. I have to adjust to it. We have to get with the times. Because you mentioned remote workers, you probably deal with it too. Whenever I have an issue with my telemetry system, we call tech support. Someone remote hand takes over the internet. You couldn't do that back in the day because you didn't have a server. You had to come in on site to get. Now you can access it remotely. That person can probably work from home. In that aspect, certain things like that might have opportunity for HTM professionals to work from home, because I see it with imaging also, they're remote then and they'll watch your cat lab for you and let you know when they see certain trends coming up and they'll alert you. It's a lot of things that's happening. I think it's going to be very intriguing, I should say.

Maggie Berkey:

Great points.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Now, you're a female in the industry. I don't know how many females do you have in your work within your company? Just out of curiosity.

Maggie Berkey:

Let's see. I think there's just two technicians that are female. What's the total?

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

What's the total?

Maggie Berkey:

techs you have. I think there's 25 technicians total. We have some support staff at the main office that are female, but I think there's five or six of us total that are working for the company. Only two of us are technicians.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

So what that is? That's a 1.10%, that's about the 8%, 8% is not bad.

Maggie Berkey:

I can say, though, when I started at the University of Minnesota, we had three of the 10 technicians were female, so I was a little bit spoiled that way and. I've met a lot of awesome female technicians and I really just want to give a shout out to all of them, because it is a bit of a challenge to be confident and just know that it doesn't matter. Some of those things really don't matter. Just like my mom helped me believe, there's nothing that will hold you back except what's between your two ears.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

That's it. Now are we talking about these females in the industry? Now, what advice can you give to a young woman aspiring to enter into the HTM industry? Like you had to say, you had a high school career day and a young lady just comes up to you and say I want to do this. After hearing your spell about it, what would you tell them to encourage them to continue to join?

Maggie Berkey:

I would say here's my number. How can I help get involved? This is the best kept secret. You will never regret it, you will be rewarded in ways that you can't even imagine, and there's something for everyone in HTM Reach.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Amen, sister. Okay, that's good for the young ones. What about this female who's been in the industry for about the 10 years and they just seem to be stagnated. What advice would you give to them?

Maggie Berkey:

If you're not reaching out to me, reach out to another female leader in the industry. We have a growing network of females that all we want to do is help elevate each other and make sure that other females get that boost that they need to know that they are in the right place and their contributions are important we have. You know, unfortunately, sometimes females don't push each other up, and that is one thing that I think as a society we could do better. But there's a lot of women, especially in this field, that really want to embrace the next generation, be it male or female, and help them grow the potential that we have.

Maggie Berkey:

First and foremost, we got to get the word out about what is HTM. Where are we, who are we, what do we do? And from there we really just have so many opportunities. There's so many little jewels in this industry. You can do just about anything. Just the number of employers you know. You can be an expert at something, work for the manufacturer, you can work for an ISO or OEM and travel every day. You can report to a critical access hospital or a huge thousand bed metropolitan hospital, and every one of those scenarios is going to lead you into so many different avenues and so many different opportunities that you never knew you were missing until you got started.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Yes, yes. Now you touched on something that's near and dear to me. Also. This industry is like a secret society or something. In your opinion, how can we spread the word? What could we do to improve on making awareness, Because the podcast might not do enough, but what else can we do to make awareness besides going to the schools? What else do you think that we can do?

Maggie Berkey:

I really think that we don't take enough opportunities to kind of rub elbows with the C suite and make sure that even in our own facilities that everybody knows who we are and the value that we add to the facility. I think a lot of things start right at home, right within your reach, and if you put your passion out every single day and show people why the work you do is meaningful and don't be afraid to toot your horn once in a while, so people will really understand that what you do is important and it does impact patient safety, it does impact staff satisfaction, it does impact the whole shebang, then that's a start.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you are absolutely right about what did the hospital? You would be surprised how many people don't know what BioMed is and you're working in the hospital with them. But I was always thinking like I don't know how many people we have in the United States that's BioMed. Just say it's 10,000. And I always wondered if the 10,000 technicians each person was to say I'm going to tell four people about the industry, I could be 40,000 people that's hearing about it and you are so spot on.

Maggie Berkey:

I actually did collaborate with a female colleague a couple years ago to do a session at Amy Fueled the Thrive in HTM, and that was the call, the challenge that we gave, because just tell two people in your network and those waves will continue out. And if people see how much reward and satisfaction that I get from this, it's going to make them think. It's going to make them think about who in my neighborhood or who in my network is looking for something. And I go to a lot of these students what do they call them? The, the holidays, healthcare, and yes and speak and say if you know somebody who likes to tinker and wants to help people and has some communication skills and isn't afraid, has that need for some excitement in their life, and send them my way, tell them about Biomed. And even if it's not you that this sounds appealing to, if you know somebody, could you just do my favor and tell them about this really cool career field?

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Absolutely, I know of two people that I was just telling them. They just asked about my son and I told him he's a Biomed and they told their nephew he didn't want to do it but the other cousin did, so he finished the program and he's doing Biomed. And that simply came from a simple conversation. And the point I tell a lot of people when you join this industry, you have a career. It's not a job. It's not like you just went to school and took a trade. You can do so much in this industry to where you can start off as a B-Met one and then five years you can be a specialist and making a good living and not being entirely in a lot of debt from school. So that's one of the best parts. The return on investment for becoming a B-Met is unbelievable.

Maggie Berkey:

It's huge. It's huge. And with the apprenticeship you know you have no student debt and you really are. Even if you have a two-year degree, you really are getting a huge return on the investment. And you know, if you start working in a hospital and see, oh my goodness, look at their doing these really futuristic cases in the cath lab, or you know, I'm just I didn't realize that I love the water sport of dialysis, you know that just trickles into the next phase of your career, but you'll never get bored in biomed because they're so, it's so big and there's so many different opportunities. It's funny you mentioned dialysis.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

I did dialysis for seven years and it's amazing how you have the electrical flow pad and then you have a fluid flow pad. So both of those are right inside the machine, and that's not even counting the RO system or something like that. But it's just amazing how that piece of equipment is saving that patient's life. Without that equipment that patient can't live. So when you're working on this, literally when you're working on the equipment in the hospital, I don't think we realize that, because we see so much in the shop that everything we touch is making someone's life better and that's something that gives you the return. Also, you're putting something in you saving lives and don't even realize it. It's just-.

Maggie Berkey:

Absolutely.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

it's very fulfilling that's the world looking for a fulfilling. That's it. You hit it on the head. Now you mentioned that you have a husband and some little kiddos. I know they're small kids still, how old are you kids?

Maggie Berkey:

Hi, they actually range from. My daughter is turning 13 this month and my youngest my oldest just turned 30 last month. Spectrum there and I've got a handful of few boys in between.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Okay so my question to you is how do you manage a work-life balance? And especially, you mentioned how you were in a hospital where you wear a number of hats. How do you balance that work-life balance? Because that's a lot of that's a good amount.

Maggie Berkey:

I would say my. I had a great mentor, my mom, remember. She had eight children and she made it look effortless. She really was, and is to this day, my rock star mama.

Maggie Berkey:

You know, for me, honestly, a big part of it is my faith. I have been blessed beyond any dream that I my dreams were way too small and my creator said, oh look, watch this. And I have a great network of female and male colleagues. And my husband he's just amazing. I can't. I mean, he definitely drives me crazy because I'm married to him and I have to live with him. But he's also a great rock that has pushed me to jump in whenever I could and has always been a great person and I think that's a great thing Whenever I could and has always encouraged.

Maggie Berkey:

You know, when I got my first leadership job in Biomed, he was the first to point out you know you're not really qualified for this, but he was also the first to recognize that. I worked my tail off to make sure that I nailed it. And it really is a lot about balance. You know, I try to take care of myself today, try to get enough rest. I never miss an opportunity to hang out with my grandsons or my kids. We prioritize time together and just really. I try to be very mindful about what's important and I would say that family is number one and God is my family, so he's right in there.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

That's it, and I mean the whole key to the thing. I tell everyone you work to live, you don't live to work.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

And people get that twisted, you know, and you got to go home and cut it off. I mean, it might be hard but you have to. And it's amazing how they have to say that behind every great man is a great woman. So I guess in your situation, behind every great woman is a great man. You know, because you hit it on the head, you can't do it without that support. I don't care how good you are, if you don't have that support at home, you're not going to be able to come up with the idea about the apprenticeship program, you're not going to be able to go to work and do what you do unless you have that support. And that's very encouraging to hear and I think that's encouraging for those who may be listening to know that you have to put your family first. I mean, people say it, but do people really do it? It's the key, you know, because you have to. If you're not putting your family first, what are you doing?

Maggie Berkey:

I couldn't agree more and I asked my kids to make sure and call me out if I am getting off balance. But I really do try to make time for, you know, my daughter, the youngest. She likes to go out for little cruises and just to chat my ear off and listen to music and it's some of the most enjoyable time that I have these days. My boys they challenge me with some other fun stuff, but they all keep me on my toes and it really is.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

I wouldn't want to spend life any other way and I know when I used to be on a challenging job. If I'm having a challenging day, I used to keep my kids on my desk and I just look at the picture you know, like this is why I'm here.

Maggie Berkey:

Keep that before you.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

this is why I'm here, so you got to keep your calm. Okay, tell that nurse what you might be thinking, or you can't tell that coworker who's. You have to stay focused, because what you do on a job affects what happens at home. So I used to keep my kids right in front of me just to keep me motivated. You know, because you need that motivation, you need that inspiration, and most of the time, family is the inspiration and motivation for 90, probably 100% of people that's working, unless you don't have one. But that's my motivation and it sounded like that's yours also, and that's good. I mean, if you have a good family, then it will show on your work and it's something that you definitely can continue to grow in. Now let me ask you this question as far as professionally, how do you stay updated with the different things going on in the HTM industry? How do you continue to grow professionally? What do you do?

Maggie Berkey:

I say my network helps a lot with that. I'm very involved with my local HTM society and they help. You know the quarterly meetings and the annual symposium. I asked for things, you know, when we got new ultrasounds I asked if I could go to training and you know they said yes. So just speaking up for myself, just saying you know I don't really feel comfortable working on that sophisticated dev equipment without some kind of training.

Maggie Berkey:

But I read, you know I still get paper copies of a lot of our Biomed-focused magazines. I listen to podcasts and thank you for having podcasts to listen to. I listen to people like Justin Barber on YouTube and of course the bearded Biomed, just to try to keep my fingers and as many pies as possible and just really try to be at least somewhat in the loop on what's coming down the pike. And really, because I'm just kind of a nerd that way, I'm interested in a lot of those things. So I just want to know. I don't maybe read to the deepest level, but I try to brief myself on a lot of stuff, just so I kind of know and then if I'm interested in something or something really intrigues me, then I'll dig a little deeper.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

You did. That's some information laying there with the different podcasts and I try to. I get motivated from all of those people and you also mean you may not think you encourage and motivate people, but you do and I tell people all the time you don't have to have a podcast to be inspirational, motivational. Just coming to work and doing everything the right way is motivational, is inspirational. And sharing your wisdom with others, sharing your wisdom with Amy, creating, coming up with the apprentice, I mean that's inspirational. You can share something and then someone can build on that. You know, like I said, you might not make the fire, but you can do the spark. That turns into how that quote goes. But you have that in you, which is why I wanted to bring you on, because I think people should know about Maggie B. But thank you. Well, let me ask you another question, and sure, as far as how long you've been in the industry now.

Maggie Berkey:

Just, it's about 14 years, 14 years.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Wow, there you go, man. And do you see let's just say you've been doing this 14 years have it changed a lot in your opinion? Not the technology, of course, that has changed, but as far as the technician because you may have some involvement, ht and professionals trying to say that too, you may have some that refuse to change have you noticed the technicians in your area evolving? I'll say in the industry we're not going to pinpoint one person Do you see them evolving also, or do you see them resisting change in your opinion?

Maggie Berkey:

In my opinion, I would say most technicians are embracing the change and maybe I've been accused of being an optimist and seeing you know the bright side more than anything. But I'm thinking back to my beginning days with Fairview, and there was only one technician that really I don't think cared to know much or think much about what's coming down the pike. I would say most of us were just really excited to be part of something that was so, I want to say, exclusive. I mean, we really are such a niche little group of people that that's kind of exciting in some ways. But without each other it would be a lot scarier than it is.

Maggie Berkey:

And I think if you are involved with your local society or with the Amy and national you know societies that there's so much opportunity to be involved in then you see that here today, gone tomorrow, everything's changing. I mean Vital Signs machines really haven't changed that much in essence. You know that there's some basic parameters and now maybe they can interface with the network. But it's not that the Vital Signs monitor has changed so much, it's just the importance of it being ready and the way it needs to interface, the way it needs to be ready and how we can really impact it, being available and safer our patients. I just don't see a lot of technicians that are limiting themselves, thinking, well, you know, that's somebody else's job and that's somebody else's problem. I think most technicians that I've been fortunate to know are bigger thinkers. They're trying to think outside the box. They're trying to solve problems and really add value. That at least the good ones.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Yeah, and that's a good point about the Vital Signs monitors. They just got a lot cuter touch screen. You can plug that in.

Maggie Berkey:

Maybe a little smaller.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Yeah, but smaller and smaller, some fragile, some robust. But, like you said, in the test equipment that's the one thing I noticed like the ESU analyzers I mean the new ones you really have to read that manual. Yeah, I mean, it's challenging, it's different and it's different, but it does a lot of testing that is required for these new ESU units. So you can't use the old tester on it because it's not going to give you a full PM, so you have to get the latest test equipment. And I think a lot of older bio-meds get challenged at with this new technology and they get, I guess, nervous instead of just saying embracing it. Some of them shy away from it and that's what I noticed because we was laughing in the shop when they talking about documentation.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

It's like when I came to the industry it was no EMR system, so every piece of equipment had a vanilla folder. So when you went to the floor you had to bring that folder with you with the history in it, and then they eventually came up with electronic systems. But that was the first seven years. I'm like man, I had to practice my penmanship, I had to make sure I didn't bring the folders home, and there's a lot of stuff that's advanced. And I tell the kids, you can do your work now from your cell phone.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

That's right and you can go down the floor and you can actually close the work order. And it's just how times are changing. Like you said, you have to change with them. Well, maggie, I enjoy talking with you, but I want you to share one more thing with the audience. I want you to give some, because you gave a lot of wisdom for females, but I want you to give some encouragement to all HTM professionals, male and female, young and old. What could you share with them?

Maggie Berkey:

as far as Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to really at least try to give some encouragement to all of my human counterparts, because you were talking about the seasoned technicians that sometimes might tend to shy away from some of the newer technology. But I can tell you that I want to be arm in arm with my seasoned technician as we go in and look at some of these systems that they know inside and out and year after year, even though the face might have changed, that the internal system really hasn't changed much. What I love about the seasoned folks is that they can kind of show us where we've been so that we can make a better trip forward. Instead of trying to recreate the wheel, we can really work on getting it to spin a little nicer just because we have that historic perspective.

Maggie Berkey:

I think the saddest part about this retirement exodus that we've got going on right now is that we are not sure that we're getting all of that wealth of knowledge to be passed on to the next generation. I would like to encourage us to invite any of these retirees to continue to speak at our engagements and help bring in people from their community. They still have all that knowledge. Mentor, make videos, interview on these podcasts, just so that some of that information won't be lost. At the end of the day, we are all humans. We have certain needs and that is so important to keep us kind of grounded and not put ourselves above or below anyone else. But it's those unique experiences that none of us share that makes us so much richer when we come together and we try to problem solve. There's also so much information and so many people that care so much about just making sure that you and I and everybody in this field have the tools we need to really be great.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

Well said, well said, and that's. You said a great point about the season season technicians. You know working on with them and always tease the guys in the shop. They'll be like man, you've been doing this 30 years. I said, yeah, but the stuff I worked on 30 years ago is not in the hospital right now. So you got to stay going because you might be in it 30 years. But what's some of the stuff? Maybe I take that back. You might find a striker table here or two. That's 30 years old. That's probably yeah.

Maggie Berkey:

Yeah, but some of those dopplers those are the dopplers are still around and you know, and that the young people to just bring so much energy and vibrance and you know, and great ideas, different perspectives than and that tech savviness that you were talking about I just I am so encouraged. I used to coach robotics when we lived in Minnesota and I know that the future is bright when you look and see some of these kids that can program a robot to do really things that would be difficult for a lot of people to do, and you know these guys were in grade school and middle school doing this stuff. So we've we don't have anything to worry about as long as we put our priorities in the right place, and I think that children and education need to be high priorities, absolutely.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

I agree with you 1000%, like this staffing issue. I tell everybody these young people can fix that this. We just got to let them do their thing. Don't stop. We got to turn them loose and they go. They don't fix it because they see it from a different angle than we see it. We see it the way they're looking at it from another perspective and all you need is a little guidance and that's where we help them and they can turn them loose and I'm telling you it's going to be like unbelievable and I look forward to it. Maggie, I appreciate you coming on. You welcome back anytime. Can't wait to see you again. Thank you, and we can talk and feel like I know a lot more about you now than I did before. So I appreciate the time you spent with us and I wish you nothing but much love and success and keep that family bond growing, because that's the key to Maggie's success in the HTM industry and we need you in the HTM industry. So keep doing what you're doing, maggie.

Maggie Berkey:

Well, thank you for all your kind words, and I will be at the Amy Exchange in June doing a presentation on documentation, something that we don't have a lot of resources for, but we all know it impacts our daily life. So I hope to run into you and so many other of our HTM colleagues there and really talk about this stuff, because it's not. It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. Anybody Biomed knows that's the truth. So be the squeaky wheel. That's what I want to encourage all your listeners. Be the squeaky wheel, that's it.

Bryant Hawkins Sr.:

That's it. Great Thanks, Maggie. Thank you for tuning in to HTM on the line podcast for more engaging content, including podcasts, HTM motivational videos, blogs and monthly newsletters, Be sure to visit us at HTM on the linecom. Don't forget to share these valuable resources with your fellow HTM professionals To meet again. Thank you and take care.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Bryant Hawkins Sr.

Host