A belated Happy New Year! As we ended 2016, my last blog post was about I/ITSEC, the world’s largest MS&T conference. Now as we kick off 2017, our team is headed to the world’s largest healthcare simulation conference, IMSH. To quote the great baseball legend, Yogi Berra, “it’s like déjà vu all over again!”
We are so excited to be exhibiting at IMSH this week; IMSH stands for International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare and is a celebration of the power and purpose of healthcare simulation. It’s the first time ECS is exhibiting at IMSH, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it for so many reasons.
You know economic development is extremely important to me, especially in my role as an advisory board member/Chairman’s Council Co-Chair of GrowFL, an organization that invests in second stage companies, providing strategy, resources and support that assists their growth in Florida. As Class Chair of Leadership Orlando-Class 92, we are impacting leaders of companies by creating opportunities for them to observe, interact, and learn from public, private and civic leaders across Central Florida. And, at IMSH we will have the opportunity to interact with representatives from over 50 countries right here in Central Florida. What a great way to raise more awareness about our tech community!
While economic development is certainly a benefit, the conference itself is important to ECS and our partners. It is not just about the tech we will be showing (which I think is so cool!). It’s about us, as citizens and a community coming together to build awareness about our own health, as well as the health of our loved ones and the war fighters and first responders that protect all of us every day.
We hear about healthcare in the news all the time. In 2015, we spent $3.2 trillion in the U.S. on healthcare; that’s $10k per person and 17.8% of our gross domestic product, and it is only going to continue to increase. As part of the medical simulation industry, our team and other individuals and companies at IMSH, are looking to provide new applications to help improve lives. First and foremost, we hope to help educate and train the next generation of medical professionals… while trying to help reduce costs.
I will keep y’all posted on what I learn in the next week at IMSH.
Waymon
Waymon Armstrong
Founder/CEO
