Westward Medical

At MCKENZIE-WILLAMETTE MEDICAL CENTER in central Oregon this week! It’s been about 5 years since I visited this hospital. Back then the Perfusionist was a great guy named Rick Weber who happens to be a friend and current partner of mine in Tacoma. The Perfusionist here now, (Logan Abrams and Brayden Martin, MPS, CCP) are equally great and I’m happy I get to spend a bit of time with them this week. Definitely a fun and intelligent duo in our field! Also want to give a bit of a shoutout again to Nadine Roth for her continued friendship and support, Shamrock Surgical for everything they do, Quest Medical, Inc. for the amazing products they make (#MPS3ND) and Matt Hansen for the role he’s played in the region. More great things ahead and I’m happy to be apart of it all. Peace and love everyone -Blake

Thanks LA for the nice weather and Torrance Memorial Medical Center for a great day of ECMO training! You guys showed up strong and hung out for 8 hours (????) to get some hands on training. All I can say is this was one of the most attentive teams I’ve worked with and they were full of great questions and ready to dive right in. Special thanks to Julie Che RN MSN NEA-BC and that whole team. Always good to hangout with my friends Kim Lewis, MS and Wayne Penn as well! Thanks for everything you guys do and letting me work along side you. #ECMO #ECLS #Simulation #Vitalflow

Thank you to anyone and everyone I’ve been able to work with this year. If your team is looking for medical training, simulations or services in 2025 don’t be shy! Wishing you all the very best.

A little late but what an awesome team and place! It’s definitely not my first time in SoDak (my family lives just north near Bismarck ND) but it was absolutely my first time at Monument Health and I have nothing but amazing things to say about Thad Bruhn and his team! I was there supporting them with their Quest Medical, Inc. #MPS3ND trials but in all honesty I wasn’t needed at all ??. The perfusionists are very talented and had it down by the time I arrived, largely thanks to Scott Pacheco MBA, LP, CCP Emeritus and Will Eagleson! Still, very happy to be there and help support their operations and talk a little myocardial protection. Big thanks to Shamrock Surgical and Quest Medical, Inc. to for their continued support!

Fresh off Reanimate at Sharp HealthCare, quick trip to Honolulu and back to UCSF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE for some fun #ECMO #simulation and #vitalflow demonstrations! Thank you Leo Marin and Michael Levario, MHA, MS, CCP for the the good time. What a view! Medtronic, MC3 Cardiopulmonary, Shamrock Surgical, #Seamus

Happy to be at Reanimate!

Long appreciation post for WESTWARDS's 1st year of operational business. (page 2 of 2) I'd also like to thank everyone over at Quest Medical, Inc. When I was with Shamrock, I was lucky enough to both be the first in the US to clinically trial the #MPS3 and the first in the world to sell an #MPS3ND. I feel a strong bond with this company and I love the technology and innovation they put into their devices. I'd like to go a bit deeper though and mention Deborah White for being the great leader she is. Even when things are completely busy she always finds the time to respond. She has encouraged me and has aways been a pleasure to work with and for. I appreciate your help so much and I know you will just continue to grow in your career! I'd also really like to thank James Bittner who I've known and worked with for the last 6 years. There isn't a better, more genuine guy in the industry and Scott Pacheco MBA, LP, CCP Emeritus for helping train me up and always being there for support! I'd like to thank the Perfusion Life, LLC life team. Adam Clark, MBA and Todd Clark have always been extremely supportive. I've called and picked Adam's brain a couple of times over the years and he was the one who talked me into additional education and student loans! He has also hired me and sent me out into the field at a number of different hospitals and I will always have nothing but great things to say about him and his team for all the support and advice they have given me. I'd also like to thank Michael Hancock CCP for his guidance. My perfusion school classmates Nick Falter, MPH, CCP and Alison Murphy BS, CCP for their help and continued friendship. Hopefully I will be working with them a bit more as well in some compacity and I'll throw in Courtney Petersen as well (mainly because we are texting about this as I type it out but also because she is aways supportive and hopefully we can work together as well!) Last but definitely not least, I'd like to thank the team and my fellow perfusionists at Pulse Heart Institute and MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital. These guys and gals have bent over backwards to help make Westward Medical work. To Michael Meyer, MD, MBA, thank you so much for your friendship (brotherhood) and support. I love working in your OR and talking business with you. I truly appreciate everything you've done. To Robert Grimmett MS,CCP, FPP, you are the best Chief Perfusionist I know buddy and I know a good amount. Thanks for your friendship and your support. It would be impossible to grow Westward Medical without you fighting to make it work. To Adam Fernandez DHSc, FRSM, FRSB, CCP who I consider one of the most intelligent perfusionists I know. I appreciate your willingness to be apart of all of this, we are going to do big things my friend. To Sarah Thompson, Brian McCann and Rick Weber who I can't tag, I love you guys and wish you'd see this. You make coming to work enjoyable and I appreciate the sacrifices you've each made so much.

Long appreciation post for WESTWARDS's 1st year of operational business. (page 1 of 2) This is something that is important for me to do. I've been excited to type this post up for awhile. There will be a decent amount of name dropping but LinkedIn is all about making professional connections and I wouldn't be where I'm at if those professional connections hadn't taken some time to influence me or help me in some form or another. I'm not wealthy and this isn't an "I've made it" post. That will take far more time and dedication...and probably help. This is just recognizing some of the professionals in our industry that have taken the time to talk with me and encourage me along the way. *In no order of importance and sorry to the many I will forget to include; First, to my friend and the man who came up with the idea of naming the company Westward. I'd like to thank Patrick Hillis, MBA. He was the first guy to help me get a job in industry with Shamrock Surgical. I've known Patrick for quite awhile now and I'm willing to bet we work together very closely in the feature. While I'm on the topic, I'd like to thank the Shamrock Surgical team as well. John J Manuel and Chris Ryan, MBA are terrific owners and friends and they have helped me in ways far too long to explain. They are probably the most influential people on this list in terms of help and support for Westward Medical. I look up to them and all the great advice they've given me. I'd also like to mention the rest of the Shamrock team I work(ed) with for continually going above and beyond and always being willing to help, (Michael Levario, MHA, MS, CCP for always having the same mindset in business and in life, Leo Marin, Christine Hofer, Nadine Roth and Aaron Tibbitts). They are amazing people and some of the best sales reps I'll ever know. To my friends on the other side of the Nation at INVOSURG, INC., thank you Giovanni Cecere and Jim Sabia for mentoring me and bringing me in to learn some of the trade. I sincerely appreciate it and it's always great to see you guys and the rest of the team. To the Medtronic Perfusion and ECLS teams, Thank you for letting me help travel around talk about all the latest and greatest things in ECMO. You guys have invested heavily in the field and it shows. I'm so excited to continue going from center to center to talk about the things we all love #vitalflow, #NautilusSMART, #ECMO. I'd also like to thank several individuals within Medtronic who have been there with me doing trainings and simulations all across the US. Huge thanks to DiPasquale Bob, Richard Smith, Murad Humayun, Debra G. Miglionico, Ali Brockington, Luis Carriles, Lori Dixon, Bernadette Miller, Bonnie Grant, Nitasha Joyner, MBA CCP and especially Kim Lewis, MS. You guys feel like a second family and it has been an absolute pleasure working with all of you. Page 2 of 2 next;

When you clean stuff up and help out your nurses they sometimes give you awards! Apparently I’m extremely similar to a Golden Retriever and just want to be told “good boy” every so often. Seriously though, the nurses I work with at Tacoma General Hospital are amazing and highly talented…and sometimes they spoil you! Hats off to the TG team and happy Thursday to everyone! Pulse Heart Institute MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital #perfusionist #cardiacsurgery

At it again! The new St. Michael Medical Center (CommonSpirit Health, CHI) in Silverdale, Washington has to be one of, if not thee most, beautiful hospitals I’ve ever been to. It is still under construction in areas but it is truly amazing! I was lucky enough to get to be here today installing the teams brand new Quest Medical, Inc. #MPS3 units. If you want to hit me up about myocardial protection and my thoughts please do but in the meantime I digress back to the topic of St Michaels… I’ve been able to work with different members of this team in different locations since 2018. My father, (a perfusionist as well) has worked with some long before that. No matter where they have been (UW, Maquet, Harrison Med Center, St Joseph Med Center, Tacoma General, Sacred Heart Eugene and everywhere else) this group of perfusionists has been around and seen it all. Here’s a fun fact about them, they purchased the very first MPS3 unit ever sold (IN THE WORLD) and I have the receipts to prove it! They are smart, witty and extremely knowledgeable. Big thanks to Andrew Zyskowski and Sean Trump, CCP for helping out today and Q Tang for responding to my text while she is off on vacation summitting a mountain. You guys are solid and it was a pleasure getting to hangout with you.