For 17 years, Medequip Engineering Service, Inc. has been an authorized sales/service representative for more than 20 manufacturers of medical equipment, with an emphasis on sterilizers, washing equipment, surgical tables, and surgical lights.

In her 15 years with the company, sales & marketing manager Dawn R. Nightshade has learned a great deal and helped Medequip become a DOTmed certified company.

With a background in accounting and customer service and emphasis on small business start-ups, Nightshade was scooped-up by Medequip president Herman Dennington.
"I had little awareness of this industry prior to 1993, when I came to work for Medequip," Nightshade says. "What attracted me to Medequip was the work environment; it was just a small start-up operating out of a cabin on the president's rural property with a small rented warehouse in town for shipping and receiving, parts storage and a workbench."

That combined with the company's philosophy of developing relationships with clients and reducing waste appealed to her.

"I seem to thrive in an environment where there is a lot of opportunity to do a lot of different tasks, and Medequip has provided that for me all these years," she says.

A perusal of her resume will quickly reveal that Nightshade has held numerous positions with the company, learning the ins and outs of all facets of the industry, and she wears various other hats as needed.

"I started here as a dispatcher/bookkeeper in 1993, taking incoming service calls and dispatching service techs to medical facilities," she says. "I then moved on to become our contract manager and was responsible for maintaining the preventive maintenance agreements and negotiating contracts with our clients for equipment service"

Next, she took on project management duties in relation to the company's growing refurbished equipment sales, which led to her becoming a full-time sales associate.

"An affinity for technology led me to develop our Internet presence and so I built our first website and started marketing our products online," she says. "Upon the death of my good friend Billy Dean, who held the position before me, Medequip was left without a sales manager, and as Billy and I had worked closely together for several years, I was the obvious choice."

Nightshade has helped expand on Dean's work and she sees the current industry challenges of budget restrictions and environmental concerns as opportunities since dealing with both those obstacles are major focal points for the company.

"This fits perfectly with our company philosophy and the products and services we provide," she says. "At the same time, I'm seeing an increased desire for electronic documentation, so that presents some challenges when dealing with older equipment as we do. Finding that balance between cost savings, efficiency and shiny bells and whistles, is a complicated dance but one we're very excited to be involved in."

COMPANY INFO
Medequip Engineering Service, Inc.
PO Box 3128, Central Point, OR 97502-0005
Toll Free 800.992.9985
Local 541.664.8173

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