Meet Eric Hoyt, President of First Access Medical

Eric Hoyt is President of First Access Medical, LLC (FAM). He is a United States Military veteran who has worked in the healthcare field for thirty years. He founded First Access Medical, which is a medical device distributor that brings unique protection products to solve everyday common challenges and problems in hospitals, medical offices, and home health settings.

1. How did First Access Medical first get started as a company?

First Access Medical LLC actually started as Access Medical LLC. We realized we had to form a company to promote and advance a product that we had developed: the Cathguard. Back in the 90s, I started working in a dialysis unit, and it wasn't long before I realized there wasn't an effective way to deal with the exterior lumen of a central line venous catheter. I had patients young and old dealing with the rigid plastic and sharp clamps of their catheters excoriating their skin. At that time the only remedy was to wrap the lumen with gauze and tape. It was a very difficult process as well as ineffective and dangerous for the catheter at the insertion site.

I began making a protective cover from sterile material we had on hand. I was hand making the covers/pockets for the patients in my dialysis unit. It wasn't long before every patient with the catheter wanted a catheter protector.

2. What inspired you and Cidnee Hoyt to create a product to assist patients who require catheters?

I could no longer keep up with the demand as the covers were disposable and required a new one at every treatment. We found a local medical device manufacturing company in our town. We formed a company, Access Medical LLC, to manage the financial responsibility of a company. We formed joint venture with a medical supply company to help us sell the catheter protectors. At that time, I was the chief dialysis technician, and my wife, Cidnee Hoyt, was in nursing school, working full time, and raising four children. The name Access Medical is derived from the first letter of everyone in the family at that time to include for children, Cidnee, and myself.

We knew the device had a future when the patients started demanding the Cath-PRO. I had one gentleman tell me it was the best night's sleep he had gotten since having the catheter placed.

I remember a 16-year-old female patient came to our unit and was crying uncontrollably; she could not be consoled. We asked her, what was the matter? She said, "This thing is so ugly!" I provided her with a catheter protector that managed the catheter as well as gave her discretion for the device. It completely changed her attitude, and from then on, every time I saw her, she had a smile on her face. She told us, "Thank you so much!"

3. What makes the Cath-PRO a unique product, and how does it help patients as well as medical professionals?

The Cath-PRO help support the exterior lumen of the central line venous catheter. It prevents suspended weight from pulling at the insertion site during times between treatments. Due to its design and water repellent material, it adds an added layer of protection from infectious ambient elements. It conceals the catheter under clothing, making it almost invisible. The Cath-PRO speeds up treatment times by avoiding the cumbersome issues involved in using taping to wrap line clamps and caps. The dialysis center business is a high pressure and very fast paced environment, and the Cath-PRO allows a seamless transition from treatment to exit as well as quick treatment initiation time. When the Cath-PRO goes on, patient and care giver know that the treatment is done and the patient is ready to go!

4. Does First Access Medical sell products mostly to hospitals or visiting nurse services or individuals or...?

Due to the reorganizing of First Access Medical, we offer the Cath-PRO to hospitals, dialysis providers and patients.

The re-engineered design of the Cath-PRO we offer to oncology floors cancer treatment centers as well as home treatment care that involves central line venous catheters. The larger version can accommodate multi lumen catheters as well as varying lengths. Cath-PRO can be embossed with company names to promote healthcare organizations, such as treatment centers, radiology centers, and catheter OEMs.

5. If someone has an idea for a medical device, is it possible for them to collaborate with your company?

Due to our experience, taking our idea from kitchen table to global sales has given us the experience and understanding how to navigate the complex medical device market. We understand and appreciate the perspective of the front line caregiver and patient as well as the federal regulatory mandates of government entities that regulate the medical industry. We also understand the professional world as it relates to medical sales and manufacturing.

Thanks, Eric!

First Access Medical provides top-quality catheter protectors required in the therapies of dialysis. All the products are subjected to FDA rules for manufacturing. 50% discount for first-time orders. If you have any questions, please call: 432-213-3709

Meet Tracy Abildskov, Owner of TJ's Biomedical Imaging

Tracy Abildskov is the owner of TJ's Biomedical Imaging. He started as a student and began working around 1991 in the Brain Imaging and Behavior Lab at Brigham Young University. After several years, he developed some skills at illustrating different types of brain damage. In 1997, he started a small business developing interactive 3D presentations to help experts explain to juries the location and extent of brain damage. The visuals are objective, based on many years of science and research. To create the presentations, he uses a variety of imaging modalities like MRI, CT, SPECT & DTI. Radiologist reports and neuropsychologists' reports along with imaging techniques are used to identify the abnormalities seen by the radiologist. Models are then created, rendered, and incorporated into trial exhibits, medical illustrations, interactive 3D presentations, and physical models.

Learn more about the services provided by TJ's Biomedical Imaging and find out how 3D biomedical imaging works by exploring the samples linked here.

1. How do your 3D presentations allow viewers to better understand the way brain damage affects the brain?

After someone get injured in an accident, bones heal, hair grows back, and scars become less apparent. The problem is the brain does not come back as well as it was before the accident. Reserves are used, if not depleted. Abilities, like memory, planning, judgment, problem solving, vision, learning, and language spoken or understood, to name a few, are compromised or lost. Yet on the surface, a person might look fine. What I do is take whatever scans are available to me (MRI, CT, PET, SPECT, DTI or FMRI) and working in conjunction with neuro-psychologists or neuro-radiologists develop accurate, objective, personalized, 3D representations of that person's brain. These graphics then make things easier for the average person to understand what is going on when the expert starts explaining things.

2. Why are 3D exhibits a good way to demonstrate the extent of damage to laypeople such as jurors?

Instead of a generic model that is adapted to everyone, you can see John Smith's brain. You can see where the damage is. It can sometimes be hard for someone who has not been looking at scans for a few years to be able to recognize where the abnormalities are.

In the link below, you can see a simple video showing several co-registered scans. When paused you can see how each slice looks different while still looking at the same part of the brain. These differences are due to changes in the MRI parameters. Each sequence (T1, T2, FLAIR, PD, GRE) tell the neuro-radiologist something unique about the brain.

http://youtu.be/sz0qd5q6FDU

My job, as I see it, is to take all those complicated images, of which there might be thousands, and distill things down to the most relevant pieces of information that the experts can then use the educate judge or jury.

3. When creating exhibits meant for juries, are you generally collaborating with attorneys or doctors or both?

Each specialty (law, psychology, radiology, and rehab) brings a unique perspective when looking at the injured person. I then work with everyone to create demonstrative exhibits that can be used for the benefit for the injured person.

4. What are some other uses of your 3D presentations in addition to courtroom exhibits?

Everyone today is being asked to go faster and faster. Radiologists are asked to look at thousands of images and generate a report in 15 minutes or less. I am trying to expand my service into the medical profession to provide a quick overview on what the radiologist needs to focus on so they can be more accurate in their diagnostic impression. I also want to make things quicker and easier for the rehab specialist as well so they don't waste time on therapies that will be of no value to the injured person. There are so many different areas where this could help, but for right now it mostly used in a courtroom setting.

5. What would you most like our readers to understand about your work?

That there is more to a person than what they see on the surface. If you understand what is going on in the brain, you can better understand why the injured person is having problems.

Thanks, Tracy!