NCBA History

The North Carolina Biomedical Association originated in the late 1970's when a group of BMETs were invited to meet at the Area Health Education Center in the Wake County Medical Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. This original group of individuals established the foundations and guiding principles, which have made the North Carolina Biomedical Association the superlative organization that it is today. The By-Laws formulated by this group established the principal objective of advancing the development of personnel involved in the selection, operation, repair and support of biomedical instrumentation of Health Care Institutions.

We have made available a copy of the first NCBA Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 1, dated June 12, 1981. It has been scanned as a pdf file and the size is 413K. Click Here to open the pdf file.

The evening of November 5, 1980 was an historic time for the N.C.B.A. After months of hard work and planning, the North Carolina Biomedical Association elected it's first Board of Directors. Out of this group of ten dedicated individuals came the Association's officers:

President:	Patrick K. Lynch, CBET Carolinas Hospital Engineering Support Services (CHESS) Charlotte Memorial Hospital, Charlotte, NC
Vice President:	W. Glenn Scales, CBET Biomedical Equipment Rental & Sales, Inc.
Secretary:	Wes Cormac Moore Memorial Hospital, Pinehurst, NC
Treasurer:	Eddy G. Whisnant Physio Control Corp., Raleigh, NC
Directors:	Jim Downing Wilson Memorial Hospital, Wilson, NC Frank Forrest, CBET Memorial Hospital of Alamance County, Burlington, NC Dave Curry Grace Hospital, Morganton, NC Dr. J.C. Boone Stanly Technical College, Albemarle, NC Clint Crites, CBET Carolinas Hospital Engineering Support Services (CHESS) N.C. Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC Bob Strickland, R.H.Ed. Area Health Education Center, Raleigh, NC

During the next six months, all the members of the Board of Directors were following up on various assigned tasks associated with further developing this newly established organization. On June 21, 1981 the first N.C.B. A. Newsletter was published. Membership packets, including the recently adopted By-Laws, were distributed to the 43 members of the N.C.B.A. Membership certificates were selected and printed, a logo design was selected and lapel pins were designed and ordered.

Although the organization was still in a ³start-up phase², the educational needs of the membership were still the primary focus. Even though the N.C.B.A. did not quite exactly exist at this point, the founding members had already put on two annual symposiums. The Third Annual Symposium was scheduled for November 12 & 13, 1981 at the Jane S. McKimmon Center on the North Carolina State University campus. Topics presented at this Symposium included Blood Pressure Monitoring, Infusion Pumps & Controllers and P.M. / Safety Documentation.

As a part of the Third Annual Symposium, Board of Directors elections were held and a fresh crop of Directors were selected for two year terms. The original terms were staggered so that half of the Board's term of office would expire each year. Newly elected members of the Board of Directors were Lane Rushing, Richard Zang, Virgil Smoot and Dale Crum. This process of a staggered Board rotation was one of the original founding doctrines of the N.C.B.A. Soon thereafter, Lane Rushing accepted a job with Physio Control and had to move to Washington, DC. Paul Stroud, CBET at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh was appointed to replace Lane.

On August 10, 1981, the Department of Secretary of State of the State of North Carolina issued the Articles of Incorporation to the N.C.B.A. thanks to the considerable efforts of Frank Forrest and his wife, Nancy. This was the first step in the process of establishing the N.C.B.A. as a non-profit corporation, legally recognized by the State of North Carolina. One of the more historic events in the history of the North Carolina Biomedical Association occurred on Thursday, October 14, 1982 at the Raleigh Hilton Hotel. The Fourth Annual Symposium saw the introduction of the Pig Pickin'. This most popular of all N.C.B.A. events was sponsored by Andover Medical and Dave Curry and Clint Crites served as the chefs for this inaugural event. By this time the N.C.B.A. membership had grown to almost 200 and the Annual Symposiums were ³the² event for BMETs in North Carolina.

Each year throughout the long history of the North Carolina Biomedical Association, people come and go and a review of the history of the NCBA shows a long and dedicated commitment from within the membership to furthering the goals established back in 1979. Literally hundreds of individuals, hospitals and corporations have worked behind the scenes to help the N.C.B.A. become what it is today ‹ the finest regional organization representing the interests of Biomedical Equipment Technicians and Clinical Engineers.

Listed below are those who have helped guide the Board of Directors by serving as President.

1981  Patrick Lynch	1991  Boyd Campbell	2000  Glenn Scales	2009  Alan Koreneff
1982  Franklin Forrest	1992  Kevin Scoggin	2001  Brian Poplin	2010  Alan Koreneff
1983  Dale Crum	1993  Lane Rushing	2002  Boyd Campbell	2011  Chad Granade
1984  Kenneth Bissette	1994  Greg Johnson	2003  Helen Jones	2012  Alison Lauer
1985  Michael Trumbore	1995  Obie Godley	2004  Brian Poplin	2013  Helen Jones
1986  John Shore	1996  Mike Marrow	2005  Sonny Richards	2014  Glenn Scales
1987  Margaret Clark	1997  Dennis Minsent	2006  John Noblitt	2015  Clint McCoy
1988  Charles Worrell	1998  Ray Laxton	2007  David Wilson	2016  Glenn Scales
1989  Dale Allman	1999  Chris Dissinger	2008  Glenn Scales	2017  Codi Nelson
1990  Kenneth Bissette

We wanted to share with our members and others who are interested, some photos from the history of our organization. We have included some photos of "days gone bye," as well as some photos and narratives of some more recent events. We hope you enjoy your tour.

A Board Meeting with the first NCBA Board of Directors in 1981.

Patrick Lynch in 1981 as the first President of the NCBA.

The first annual symposium in 1981 as the now official NCBA.

We even had technical classes in 1981.

Glenn Scales - Didn't we all look better back then.

We had over 70 vendors particpate in the 1997 Symposium.

As always, we show some of the vendor provided prizes that are given away at the business lunch...

consequently, when you have plenty of food and add free prizes,
you can always count on having a lot of BMETs show up.

We like to see lots of BMETs, so we offer more food. Our Pig Pickin' is renowned in BMET circles.

November 5, 1980 First Board of Directors elected June 21, 1981 First newsletter published August 21, 1981 Articles of Incorporation issued November 11, 1981 End of Charter Membership registration November 12 & 13, 1981 Third Annual Symposium April 26, 1982 Membership count is 174 June 21 & 22, 1982 First CBET review class October 14, 1982 The first Symposium Pig Pickin’ – Symposium moves to the North Raleigh Hilton Hotel October 20, 1983 By-Laws amended to divide the office of Secretary into Membership Secretary & Recording Secretary and to limit Board of Directors term of office to two consecutive two year terms. March 15, 1984 NCBA contracts with Olson Management Group to manage the Symposium arrangements July 19, 1984 Membership count reaches 300 January 31, 1985 Management contract awarded to Association Alternatives, Inc. NCBA establishes an affiliation with ASHE January 1, 1986 Individual annual membership fee changes from $10 to $30 October 13, 1986 Gov. James Martin proclaims Inaugural North Carolina BMET Week May 1, 1988 NCBA nominated for the AAMI Foundation Laufman / Greatbatch Award February 5, 1990 Founding member and long time Board member, Eddy Whisnant passes away after an extended illness July 1, 1991 Eddy Whisnant Scholarship established to grant scholarships to second year students within the North Carolina Community College System. January 15, 1993 Introduction of the "Profile Spotlight" series of articles in the newsletter, which provide a description of the facilities and services provided by member institutions and vendors. The inaugural article highlighted Cape Fear Valley Medical Center and Physio Control Corporation. January 15, 1993 Premier issue of the new newsletter format February 16, 1993 The Norman "Red" Reeves Scholarship is established by Douglass Medical and Biomedical Equipment Rental & Sales July 16, 1993 Membership fees and symposium registration fees increased. The last fee increase had been in 1986. November 10, 1993 NCBA Annual Symposium moves to the North Raleigh Hilton Hotel. November 1, 1995 Symposium moves to the Four Seasons Hotel in Greensboro, NC. After several years absence, the Pig Pickin’ returns July 12, 1996 The Internet Task Force established September 24, 1996 Hill-Rom agrees to endow the NCBA Professional of the Year Award for three years January 10, 1997 Temporary NCBA internet web site established.Individual annual membership fee changes to $50. Symposium vendor registration fees increase to $400/$250. October 3, 1997 First Hill-Rom Professional of the Year Award presented to Robert Gerber from N.C. Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. October 3, 1997 Both the Eddie Whisnant Scholarship and the Norman Reeves Scholarship presented to Lawrence Smith. November 1, 1997 Permanent NCBA internet web site established at http://anesthesia.mc.duke.edu/ncba October 29, 1999 $5,000 education grants presented to Caldwell Community College and Stanly Community College for BMET Program development By-Laws changed to clarify the responsibility differences between the Recording and Memberhsip Secretaries. November 3, 1999 Web site name http://www.ncbiomedassoc.com/ registered and a new web site established with Apollo Hosting December 1999 Annual Symposium moves to the Pinehurst Hotel and Resort in the Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina June 2000 NCBA member David E. Francoeur, CBET awarded the AAMI Foundation BMET of the Year Award July 2000 Spacelabs agrees to fund a Manager of the Year award for a five year period. December 2000 The first Manager of the Year award presented to Erv Kelman of Moses Cone Hospital at the NCBA 22nd Annual Symposium June 9, 2001 NCBA partners with AAMI to present the AAMI Annual Meeting and Expo in Baltimore, MD June 2002 NCBA member Dennis R. Edwards, CBET awarded the AAMI Foundation BMET of the Year Award December 1, 2003 PartsSource takes over the sponsorship of the Norman "Red" Reeves Scholarship December 7, 2004 By-Laws amended to increase the Board of Directors to 12 positions January 2005 Southeastern Biomedical Associates co-sponsors the Norman "Red" Reeves Scholarship with PartsSource June 2005 NCBA is a Contributing Organization for the AAMI Meeting and Expo held in Tampa, FL January 2006 Bill Yandell added as an Honorary Member June 2006 NCBA is a Contributing Organization for the AAMI Meeting and Expo held in Washington, DC November 2006 NCBA starts using PayPal to accept online credit card payments for membership renewals and Symposium registration May 2007 NCBA is a Contributing Organization for the AAMI Meeting and Expo held in Boston, MA NCBA member Glenn Scales awarded the AAMI Foundation BMET of the Year Award December 2007 Glenn Scales presented with the NCBA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Annual Symposium in Pinehurst, NC January 2008 Global Medical Imaging takes over financial sponsorship of the NCBA Professional of the Year Award March 2008 W. Glenn Scales Scholarship established by the NCBA. Aramark Healthcare to provide the initial $5,000 funding. June 2008 NCBA member John Noblitt awarded the AAMI Foundation Educational Advancement Award December 2008 NCBA member John Noblitt awarded the inaugural W. Glenn Scales Scholarship Award January 2009 NCBA Board of Directors decides to move the annual Symposium and Expo to the Concord Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord, North Carolina. The event will continue to be scheduled for the first week in December