(MARSHALL) – Texas State Technical College’s Biomedical Equipment Technology program in Marshall recently received an equipment donation valued at more than $100,000 from East Texas Medical Center in Henderson.
The program received four Nihon-Kohden Monitor Systems for bedside usage with nursing central station telemetry, a CONMED Electrosurgical Unit used for incision and ridding the body of tissue masses, six Abbott Plumb intravenous infusion pumps and a stress test unit.
“Generous donations like this give TSTC the opportunity to train students on the broadest variety of equipment they may see in the field and give them the hands-on training that make our students so successful in the workplace,” TSTC in Marshall Provost Bart Day said.
The equipment will be used in the program’s Physiological Instruments and Biomedical Clinical Instrumentation courses, Associate Professor Nicholas Cram said.
“The equipment is termed ‘end of life’ in the industry,” Cram said. “This means that the hospital can no longer be certain that parts and technical support is available for this equipment. The equipment is four to five years old and very serviceable for student use. It gives us at TSTC in Marshall the ability to use relatively new equipment for labs.”
Fred Ingham, a biomedical technician at the Henderson hospital, said staff thought the retired equipment would be best for the program. Ingham said East Texas Medical Center in Tyler has an internship program with TSTC in Marshall and has made previous equipment donations
The Biomedical Equipment Technology program currently has 48 students enrolled. Students can receive an Associate in Biomedical Equipment Technology in Marshall.
Students with a biomedical equipment technology degree can work for medical centers, equipment manufacturers and digital industrial companies, according to the Medical Device Manufacturers Association and the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation in Healthcare Technology.
For more information on how to make a cash or equipment donation to TSTC, contact The TSTC Foundation at 254-867-3900.
Registration continues for Fall Semester. For more information log on to tstc.edu.