Meet Al Maslowski

He’s the kind of guy who can strike up a conversation with just about anyone, who loves the outdoors, coffee, caring for our planet, giving back and spending time with his girls. Despite not caring too much for “screens,” he loves how our Caring Suite™ technology can truly improve patients’ lives.

Meet Al Maslowski, our fantastic Sales Specialist for the Pacific Northwest Region, and below, learn more about Al in his own words!

Tell us a little about your background:

I have been with PDC for seven years. Prior to PDC, I spent three years in Renewable Energy Sector sales and three years in OT with adults with cognitive disabilities.

Education:

BS – Environmental Science, AAS – Hospitality and Resort Management, EDAC (in progress)

What brought you to PDC?

An offer to join a team willing to market and build a best-in-class product line of LED lighting and patient experience solutions designed for the MRI environment and beyond.

Why did you choose a career in patient experience?

Prior to joining PDC, I was previously working in an occupational therapy setting. Despite my own personal lack of interest in all things tech (screens of any kind), I witnessed first-hand the power of using audio/video devices and other sensory elements to provide comfort in high-stress environments, such as MRI scans – especially for young children and those with developmental disabilities. There are not too many companies like PDC, who are committed to providing (amazingly enough) an entire line of products – from RF Shielding to the Caring MR Suite electronics – that create a better patient experience, and while doing so, save the healthcare provider a lot of headache and financial burden. I wanted to be a part of the team. It’s been a very busy and exciting 7 years!

What is your favorite part of your job, and or favorite part of helping customers?

Visiting customers that have been using our products and observing how they interact with patients. I learn more about our products and how impactful they are while visiting with the amazing technologists who use them. Also, the many customers who contact us to purchase an additional Caring MR Suite or PDC product for their next project stirs up so much gratitude of how blessed we are to do what we do. Feels amazing to have repeat customers who truly care about their patients.

What is one of your proudest moments?

One of my proudest professional moments is hearing the testimony of a cancer patient’s experience with one of our linear accelerator Caring Suites, and how it provided him a sense of comfort and feeling of love and compassion from the healthcare provider during his treatment. Then hearing him ring the bell that he had completed his treatment and was cancer free.

How do you envision the future of healthcare?

My hope is that our future healthcare is a system that proactively encourages healthy lifestyles as opposed to reactively trying to play catch-up. It sounds radical and financially ridiculous to encourage this model, but I think a wholistic approach incorporating the mind, body, and spirit is best for the human collective and the environment that supports us.

What do you wish customers knew about PDC, that they might not know?

That we have been around since day one of commercial MRI, and we have probably a collective of over several hundred years (maybe more) of experience in MRI and the healthcare industry.  We are committed to improving the patient experience, period.

What makes all of your hard work worth it?

Seeing a patient successfully complete a scan, who would otherwise need to be sedated or return for another attempt. The really claustrophobic patients, or the ones who have trouble finding self-love and are so scared.. those are the ones that break me and make me feel like what we are doing is worth everything.

Describe your ideal patient experience suite:

The products are no doubt incredible, but it’s how the techs utilize them that are the magic ingredient. The All Glass MRI Door is an absolute showstopper! It opens the room, and really makes the space feel less like a vault. Lighting should be bright enough and colorful to the liking of the patient or the tech who is scanning that day. I love instrumental music, but I leave that up to whatever the patient would like to listen to. In-bore viewing is an incredible tool as well for reducing the fear of entering the bore and wiggles during the scan. Our Themes are incredible, but a DVD is always an option. I’d most likely bring my own (snowboard or surf video) if I knew the site had a Caring Suite. Lastly, I’d recommend any site to utilize our UV-C LED Bore Disinfection System for the MRI patient table and bore. There’s less stress of passing on some bug by knowing the MRI had been fully disinfected prior to your scan.

What do you like to do when not at work?

I spend all of my time with my wife and daughters. I love to compete in snowboard competitions, which these days are seemingly all fundraisers for those less fortunate or struggling with health-related issues. I also love to volunteer with WARM CURRENT teaching surf lessons for underserved communities and working to empower young people through the simple act of catching and riding a wave.

What was your first job?

Small lawn-care service with my older brother

Biggest fear?

Missing the birth of my soon to be born child

If money weren’t an issue, how would you spend your time?

Helping others live healthier and happier lives and visiting elderly family members

Likes?

Studless snow tires.  Provides traction, control, and confidence in slippery conditions

Dislikes?

Using salt on roads. This degrades our roads and infrastructure, pollutes our waterways, and prematurely rusts and decreases the value of our automobiles.

Something you feel is worth spending money on?

Regeneratively grown and locally grown/produced goods in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint and our dependence on fossil fuels and chemical/pesticide use.

Where is your happy place?

Home with my girls.  On a mountain with my girls.  In the ocean surfing waves with my girls

What fad do hope comes back?

Riding bicycles instead of driving SUVs and trucks. Carpooling and road trips

Favorite season?

Autumn. The end of the busy summer season and the anticipation of fall surf, snow in the mountains, and Packer games (for my wife). Seems to be a good time to count your blessings in case you forget to do so during the other 3 seasons.

What did you want to be growing up?

1.) Professional Snowboarder (still working on it)  2.) Occupational Therapist

Favorite quote?

“We can’t control the wind, but we can adjust our sails.”