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Ron Rushing is not only a sharp shooter nailing connections for video conferences; he also enjoys competition pistol shooting, jet skiing and traveling “until work got in the way of that,” he said.
Recently relocating from the piney woods of East Texas to the “concrete woods” of Houston in the suburb of Baytown,
Rushing enjoys the company of his girlfriend Robin, who is a NICU nurse at a hospital in the medical center nearby.
“I have a 15-year-old daughter and Robin has a 14-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter,” he said.
And grandchildren?
“I hope not,” Rushing said.
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....anywhere … anytime
learning with Ron Rushing!
Most people would not want the task of a life or death situation to hang on a wireless telephone connection. Although that might be an exaggeration,
Ron Rushing takes his work that seriously as the television network services manager with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“Students and the instructor probably rejoice when a video conference class doesn’t operate as planned as they get some time off,” Rushing said. “However, the events operated in healthcare have a more serious topic in that many of these events have a direct effect on a patient’s treatment plan.”
With a team striving to do whatever possible to insure a successful event, Rushing’s operation provides caregivers and physicians at remote sites access to M.D. Anderson’s medical staff to discuss the latest developments and treatment options. These sites may be local, national or international locations. Other uses of video conferencing include administrative and project/grant meetings, information exchanges with vendors, and graduate and staff education.
In addition to intellectual collaborations, M.D. Anderson provides connections for the healing soul.
 “We have the capability to offer patients access to VC connections to friends/family back home,” Rushing said. “We have provided calls for pediatric patients to their friends back home at school with help from the various education service centers and schools.”
With previous experience in educational technology with Region VII ESC as the ESC7 Net network project manager and Stephen F. Austin State University as media center specialist, Rushing recognizes contrasts between the two fields.
“One difference is the need for patient and information privacy that exists in healthcare,” Rushing said. “Virtually every non-course video conference discusses patient information in some form.”
Another concern in healthcare is the availability of a resource which is “more critical in the healthcare field than education in general,” Rushing said.
Self-described as “task-oriented” and “energetic,” Rushing enjoys taking a project or problem and following it through to completion. As manager, he takes ownership of the task at hand and accesses his own and other resources.
“Because video conferencing can be quite complex; coordinating the people spread out around the country and world, their schedules and the technical details, being ‘task ownership’ oriented helps the event’s success,” Rushing said.
VC changes and growth in reliability of applications have reduced the hours Rushing once spent reloading software, replacing boards and troubleshooting those “little gremlin issues.” Rushing said the greatest change has been in equipment as “it makes it easier for the end user to operate it on a day-to-day basis, thus providing for more effective use of the systems.”
Rushing’s media technology career spans 25 years with the notable accomplishment of implementing the first video conferencing network in his region while working with SFASU. He also participated in the state design group for
a state-wide video network. Membership in TxDLA includes being a part of the organization since its inception.
“My active participation with the organization has provided me with a diverse, expertise-rich environment of colleagues to discuss operational and technical issues,” Rushing said.
Working on TxDLA committees and serving in various positions also has honed negotiation and planning skills.
“I have yet to utilize this particular skill in my career, but I can also build a mean sand castle,” Rushing said.
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