This year marked the 24th anniversary of an annual event that brings together clinical engineering professionals and key healthcare technology players in Atlantic Canada: the Atlantic Canada Clinical Engineering Educational Seminars and Trade Expo. Over 150 delegates, vendors, and speakers were present for this event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from June 11-14, 2019.
Over the course of three-and-a-half days, delegates had a chance to meet and network with their counterparts working in Clinical and Biomedical Engineering across Atlantic Canada. A true feeling of collaboration was present throughout the event, as you could hear chatter about key challenges in our field from breakout groups everywhere you looked: in-between sessions, during breaks, all over the exhibitor hall, and even during the two-hour Halifax Harbour Cruise!
Supported by ACCES since 2008, the annual Educational Seminars and Trade Expo is made possible in Atlantic Canada by our many loyal sponsors, vendors and presenters, by the conference planning services of Health Association Nova Scotia, and by a newly formed conference committee which is created each year. The ACCES24 conference planning committee, chaired by Dave Hancock, has been able to bring us yet another successful installment.
The event featured over 26 educational sessions covering three core streams, Clinical/Biomedical Engineering, Professional/Management, and Healthcare IT; as well as a keynote speaker and two half-day training courses. The variety and quantity of sessions offered, paired with the quality of the sessions themselves, made for an exceptionally enriching learning experience.
The event also featured a well-attended Exhibitor Hall with over 40 booths from medical equipment vendors and biomedical equipment & service providers. In fact, vendor registrations exceeded total capacity in the Exhibitor hall, and the planning committee had to set up a few non-profit exhibitors just outside the doors.
The days being packed with educational sessions and vendor activities, evenings were not a time for delegates to slow down: ACCES board meetings, the ACCES AGM (annual general meeting), a meet-and-greet with live music, and a harbour cruise were on the schedule. And as per tradition, ACCES held a fundraising activity that raised $500 for the IWK Foundation, which ACCES agreed to match.
All things considered, the ACCES24 conference was a great success, and we hope to see the healthcare technology community coming together in such great numbers again at next year’s Silver Anniversary event in Moncton, New Brunswick!
