Rebecca Wood came to help her husband run Woodtronics, Inc., in 1985, after he purchased Southern Medical Services from his former employer, but she had not expected to stay for this long.
For the last 25 years, Wood has seen the company grow and felt the satisfaction of knowing the machines it repairs help save people’s lives. Wood has even raised her family while remaining the company’s vice president. She has four children, ranging in ages from 28 to 36.
“Twenty-five years ago, I was a nurse,” Wood said. “I considered myself a musician and a mommy. I never thought of myself as being a business person, but the jobs I had led up to that.”
Wood began her career as a licensed vocational nurse, after attending Brigham Young University. She traveled the world with her husband, Ed Wood, and lived in the Philippines while he served in the U.S. Air Force. When they returned to San Antonio, Ed Wood was working part time at Southern Medical Services while attending St. Phillip’s College; he worked full time at Southern Medical Services after he graduated from the school’s biomedical program.
When the Woods took ownership, they faced several challenges, like most small business owners do. Within a year, however, they were able to offer their employees health benefits. “We have a division of labor, that he does the technical things,” Rebecca Wood said. “The technicians repair things, and I have to do everything else, but we’ve grown a lot, so I have an assistant. It’s a whole lot more complex than it was when we first started.”
Southern Medical Services belongs to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau, and it is affiliated with the Medical Equipment Repair Associates. Wood said they enjoy plenty of benefits thanks to their association with those groups, and that this association helps bring in business.
“We really love to go to the meetings and talk to other business owners about what works and doesn’t work in business – how to solve the problems that are common to every group and appreciate the time to talk with the owners and see what’s going on across the country,” Wood said.
Southern Medical Services works on almost every type of medical equipment. “Over the years, some of the technicians have grown to specialize in certain things just by training or the way the job assignments come in,” Wood said. “But I think probably our biggest specialty is the ultra-low refrigeration that we do for research facilities and forensic science.”
Wood is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She’s always found time to complete volunteer work through the church. She is a nursery leader, and she is involved in the music committee.
While Wood was raising her children, she was also a member of the PTA. Ed Wood also finds time to volunteer. He recently finished two years as a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America.
“There are a lot of groups that I would like to go back and help – instead of just donating money, donate some time, too,” Rebecca Wood said.
Russell English, a biomedical equipment technician for Southern Medical Services, has been with the company for almost 20 years. English has enjoyed the family-owned atmosphere and the ability to do field work.
“Well, any time you do this type of work, you’re not just dealing with making a company grow,” English said. “You’re working to help other people. What I do inadvertently saves lives by keeping equipment maintained and working good in a hospital situation. I don’t have to worry if I go to some hospital or some doctor’s office if the stuff is not going to work. I know it’s going to work because we’ve been working on it. We’ve been doing the maintenance; we’ve been doing the repairs.”
English has enjoyed the last 19 years with Southern Medical Services and thinks Wood is a wonderful boss. “Rebecca’s great,” he said. “She does different things for the technicians and makes sure we get our jobs done without being too rough on us. Some places, they don’t care about the technicians, and [Southern Medical Services does]. They care about our health.”
Wood still has a lot of goals for Southern Medical Services, such as expanding the range of equipment the technicians can handle and cross training them. Wood sees versatility as one of Southern Medical Services’ strengths, and she does not want the company to be known to its customers as only repairing certain items.
“Even though they know us for one thing, don’t be afraid to call us for something else,” Wood said. “Don’t think of us for one machine; all of their equipment can be something that we can help them with.”
For more information on Southern Medical Services, please visit http://southernmedicalservices.liveonatt.com.
