EUGENE, Oregon (16 Mar 2004) -- A Eugene first-aid training company is experiencing a surge of growth as its new owners add services and focus on marketing nationwide. Bill Clendenen and Chris Bennett have just completed their first year as owners of Medic First Aid International. Big items on the agenda for year two are building a new headquarters in west Eugene, and preparing to hire 10 more employees over the next several years. Established in 1977, the 30-employee firm teaches cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first-aid safety to instructors, who then train others in these skills. Many of the instructors are safety officers who work at large corporations. They're part of the nation's growing emphasis on emergency aid in the workplace. "We train the people that do the training," Clendenen said. "We train instructors, trainers and what we call master trainers. We focus our efforts on these upper levels and provide books and videos and other published materials." Bennett said he's expecting Medic First Aid 's revenues to approach $5 million this year. That'll be up close to 40 percent from mid-2002, when Bennett and Clendenen moved to Eugene from North Carolina to buy the company from founders Maryl Barker and Peder Heineman, who were ready to retire. Clendenen was familiar with the company because he had been a Medic First Aid trainer since 1988. Before coming to Eugene, Bennett and Clendenen had been executives for Divers Alert Network, a scuba diving safety business. They declined to say what they paid for Medic First Aid or discuss other terms of the purchase. They hope to break ground for a $1.1 million headquarters in the Westec Business Park in west Eugene by late April. Their goal is to be in the new building by Jan. 1, 2005. It will have 16,200 square feet, or 4,000 square feet more than their current site at 500 S. Danebo Ave., which they lease from the previous owners. Clendenen and Bennett say they've lined up bank financing for the new building, but haven't yet submitted site plans for city review. The two bought the 2-acre Westec site earlier this year for $120,000 from park developer APC Inc. The duo's strategy is to expand the business beyond its longtime focus on producing first-aid training materials and training instructors. "The opportunity we saw when we came in was to become more of a turnkey full-service safety and health business," Bennett said. "We've taken what is a core business of outstanding training programs and materials, and now we're adding on additional products and services and selling them to those same channels. It's proving to be very successful." One area where Medic First Aid is adding services is in the sale of defibrillators, the devices used to shock the heart back into regular rhythm following a heart attack. Defibrillation while a person is in cardiac arrest significantly increases a person's chances for survival, and many businesses are buying the devices to use in the event an employee suffers a heart attack. | | Medic First Aid sells defibrillators, offers training on how to use them, and has an online tracking system to remind owners when to install a new battery or change pads. They also work with a medical group to supply the prescription a business needs to own a defibrillator. Medic First Aid's main competitors are three large, well-known nonprofit organizations: the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association and the National Safety Council. Each produces its own CPR and first-aid training programs. There are many regional companies similar to Medic First Aid, but theirs is the only large, national, privately held CPR and first aid training program, Bennett said. Craig Aman of Seattle is training manager for Philips Medical Systems, which manufactures the defibrillators Medic First Aid sells. There was once little competition in the first-aid industry but that has changed, he said, and now the organizations that provide first-aid training are updating their materials regularly. "There is a large market for emergency care and safety training. No one or two organizations can meet the demand, so having a variety of large organizations is a good thing for the people who need that training, because it's going to be more available and better priced because there is that competition," Aman said. Aman said Medic First Aid has been on the cutting edge of change in the industry. Medic First Aid was the first to take the traditional two-day first aid and CPR course and combine them into one eight-hour course, and it was the first to have video-based training that simulated an emergency and showed how to respond or perform a skill, followed by an instructor demonstration and student practice, Aman said. "They were doing that in the mid-1980s, and a lot of organizations have just gone to a watch-and-practice format within the last three or four years," Aman said. "The for-profits are a good thing because they help drive innovation." Bennet said a fact of life for Medic First Aid is that the Red Cross and the American Heart Association get a lot of exposure. "Pick up USA Today and there is a full page ad for the American Red Cross, or drive into Portland and there is a billboard," he said. SOURCE - KRTEDITOR'S NOTE: Chris Bennett is the son of ousted DAN CEO Peter Bennett who was sacked for allegedly squandering member funds on lavish personal expenses and attempting to secretly take over DAN's lucrative off-shore insurance business. |
