Erin Diaz-Faes tried to get out of the used medical equipment business. She really did. But her clients and associates wouldn't let her.

"I used to work for a company in this business. I left and my customers kept calling me," said the co-owner of AlmA Imaging Enterprises Inc. "I had no intention of doing it. I left the industry and went into something else but people kept calling me at home and at my new job. So I fell back into it based on demand."

Her nine-year-old company acquires diagnostic imaging equipment from hospitals and other brokers and exports to all of Spanish-speaking Latin America. Customers are overseas dealers who sell to hospitals and providers. AlmA Imaging Enterprises specializes in the acquisition and international remarketing of all makes and modalities of pre-owned diagnostic imaging and other hospital equipment, such as: CT, MRI, X-ray, cath/angio, ultrasound, mammography, nuclear medicine, laser cameras, bone densitometers, processors, hospital beds, EKG, defibrillators, tables, surgery lamps, and more.

An important highlight this year is that AlmA Imaging Enterprises will exhibit at the Florida International Medical Expo (FIME), August 15-17, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. It's their first time as exhibitors to attendees including Latin American buyers.

"The economies have been pretty strong despite some crises in Argentina," she reported. "I have a really good customer base and business is strong."

Latin American is about 10 years behind in terms of implementation of radiological technologies. This creates a market for used medical equipment. "Right now they're starting to ask about multi-slice CT scanners even though they are on the newer side. It's something they've expressed interest in, which we didn't think would happen for a few years," Diaz-Faes observed. A market may already be building for the used CT scanners that will become available as U.S. providers trade up to state-of-the-art, multi-slice units.

AlmA Imaging Enterprises does not generally stock equipment or maintain a standing inventory but does have some equipment currently listed on DOTmed. The company's DOTmed 100 ranking speaks to Diaz-Faes' reputation--the same trustworthiness that led her customers to demand her return to the industry in the first place.

"That's nice," she said of the accolades.

The used medical equipment business may seem like it's all about the quality of the equipment but, in the final analysis, it's all about the quality of the people.

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