Tiverton Medical Equipment Dealer Gets Top Sales Ranking

A local man who began selling refurbished medical equipment out of his Tiverton garage on Lepes Road has reached a new level of success.

Dotmed, Inc. a medical equipment publication, recently ranked Physicians Resource Network, Inc. (PRN), a medical equipment sales and service company based at 218 Shove St., Fall River, the number one medical equipment dealer in the United States. (The link above lists the companies alphabetically, but the attached snapshot of the magazine gives the numerical ranking.)

DotMed ranks its top 100 users based on user feedback to promote honest dealings and ethical behavior among its users. According to DOTmed, the list should “identify a company dedicated to providing a good purchasing experience-with the feedback to prove it."

"My Tiverton office was about 90 square feet and I sold over $1 million in product," PRN President Bob Gaw said in a recent interview. "Dotmed has a peer-review ranking system, which is without equal in the health care industry and we are honored to be voted again as the number one medical equipment dealer in the United States."

He started selling new medical equipment in 1982 for a company he worked for, called Brentwood Instruments. He said everyone always asked if they sold repaired medical equipment.

"So I took in trades and fixed them," Gaw said, adding he sold the repairs to laboratories, clinics and doctor's offices. At that time, the Fall River native was living in Tiverton, and did the repairs in his garage for nearly 10 years. When his son Bob Gaw, Jr. got out of college, they expanded. He said they grew rather quickly, and bought everything they could find.

"The more things you buy, the more chances you get it to work," he said.

When he has the broken equipment, Gaw said it is considered junk, but in a junkyard mentality when the parts have more value, new life and value is given to the equipment once it's repaired.

PRN went into debt went they made all those purchases, Gaw attested, so they started to sell it off. They were paying between 28 and 32 percent interest on that money, and Gaw said they went into six-figure debt.

"It took us about three years to get out," he said.

Now 25 years later, Gaw said the client from his first sale is still with him and he now stores unused medical equipment in 25,000 square feet of space at his Shove Street warehouse, just over the Tiverton line near McGovern's Restaurant. They have six employees, including his son.

PRN has distributed new and reconditioned medical equipment to physicians, hospitals, and international dealers for over 25 years. For more information contact Gaw at 508-679-6185, email bob@prnwebsite.com, or visit website at www.prnwebsite.com.