California: June 7-9

In June, Gerry and I had a wonderful 3 days in southern California (my first time to see the LA area), the first leg of our week’s adventure. There were 16 of us volunteers in attendance at the home office of Advanced Bionics, coming from all over the USA and from Canada. The agenda for the 2 days of training was packed with presentations by senior managers, research directors, and training supervisors. Their goal was to equip us with knowledge: to understand the company's history, to increase our understanding of the implant technology, and to inform us of current research and future vision. We were provided with many resources to take home and were free to ask questions and to share our experiences with them and with each other. It was so exciting to meet the leadership and to see in action the company's commitment to service to the customer and of their pursuit of “best-in-class” technology.



On the second day, we were given a marvelous tour of the manufacturing plant by the facility's Vice President. I was so awed by the privilege of seeing the complexity of the "miracle" in my head, of learning of the years of research to develop each component, and of observing the skill of so many hands in assembling the parts under high-powered microscopes in sterile rooms with specially designed instruments, high-tech machines, computers, and . . . . It was really an overwhelming 2 days, to say the least!