When I started SurgiHealth Solutions, my goal was never to sell brushes.
My original vision was to introduce new and innovative technologies into the sterile processing industry. I didn’t set out to build a supply company.
The moment that changed everything happened years ago when I was working in decontamination at my first hospital in Cincinnati.
I was cleaning loaner trays and realized we were running low on brushes. I told the my supervisor we needed some new ones. He walked out, grabbed a handful, brought them back, and said something that stuck with me.
In that moment, something clicked. I literally froze in conversation with my coworker. He looked at me and said, “You alright?”
I said, “Yeah… just thinking about something.”
But what had really happened was a light bulb had just gone off.
At the time, I had just become a certified sterile processing technician. And in my mind, I felt like I could conquer the entire industry. That’s honestly how I felt.
I was young, curious, and constantly trying to improve things inside the department. I would write new ideas, send suggestions up the chain, and try to simplify processes. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes it definitely didn’t. I probably annoyed quite a few people.
I was introducing ideas like Excel downtime tracking and digital documentation in departments where some of the staff had never used Excel before. What seemed logical to me sometimes felt complicated to others.
That realization led to the creation of SurgiHealth Solutions.
At the beginning, the strategy was simple. Every sterile processing department in the world uses brushes. They use them constantly. They reorder them constantly. It was the lowest barrier entry point into the industry. So I started there.
What I didn’t know at the time was how much work it would actually take. I had no money. No contacts. No reputation. No knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, logistics, or global supply chains.
Over the next decade, SurgiHealth Solutions became my education in the industry. I learned about hospitals. I learned about purchasing systems. I learned about compliance requirements. I learned about how incredibly specific and demanding sterile processing actually is.
And along the way I gained something even more important — respect for the people who do this work every day.
Sterile processing technicians take on a responsibility most industries never face. We willingly work in an environment where mistakes can carry life-or-death consequences. And yet the profession often receives very little recognition. It takes a certain type of person to choose this field.
Over the years I was asked many times: “Why don’t you try to change sterile processing?”
But that was never my goal. I never wanted to change the profession. I wanted to improve it. I wanted to simplify the processes. Improve efficiency. Reduce unnecessary friction. Without removing the skill, judgment, and professionalism that defines sterile processing technicians.
After more than 16 years in this field — as a technician, entrepreneur, peer, mentor, student, teacher, and innovator — I began to see the true problem clearly.
Technicians face complex decisions constantly. IFUs. Policies. Equipment failures. Wet packs. Cycle failures. Missing instruments. And too often those decisions are made without real-time guidance.
That realization led to the creation of something new.