We sat down with VATA Founder, Tom Call, and current VATA President, Andrew Call, to chat about VATA past and present.

How did VATA first get started?

Tom: I was a medical sales rep and we were selling a product called an implanted port. I wasn’t that good of a salesman—the nurses would practice with my product and then transferred that knowledge to the next salesman’s port. They were on a sharp learning curve and after a while the patients just waved the white flag and didn’t like getting poked by needles. 

When the salesman whose port was chosen did the in-service training, he would place the port on the table and put the tube in a glass of water. He put the needle in and drew back. The reason that you do that, is because you are looking for a blood return, and if you don’t get a blood return, you know that the tube that is inside the body is occluded and that you don’t want to infuse the chemo. So, this salesman drew back and said, what you’re looking for is blood. Even though he said the word blood, some people are visual learners and they are just seeing the clear liquid—not blood. 

So about 2 weeks later, they had implanted a port in a woman’s breast tissue. The nurse drew back and saw clear, translucent fluid. Even though the sales rep said “blood” she visualized what she had seen in the demo, which was water. She went ahead and infused the chemo and caused the woman’s breast to scab over and eventually fall off. 

Going through that experience, I just felt like there had to be a better way. I wanted to make a model to teach people. 

My wife (who is a nurse) and I started VATA in our garage. We didn’t really know what we were doing but we took the model we created to an INS (Infusion Nurses Society) conference in Nashville, Tennessee and I was non-stop for 3 days. The nurses just loved it. I decided we were going to call the model 400, after my 4 children. A nurse said to me, no, you need to call it something neat, like Chester Chest. I said, that’s wonderful and gave her a free Chester Chest and that was how we got started.

Do you have a favorite model?

Tom: My obvious favorite is Chester Chest. They are everywhere in the world. My other favorite is Seymour Butts, just because of the name. That one we named because of those books, “Underneath the Grandstands” by Seymour Butts.

Andrew: I don’t want to be redundant but it has to be Chester. We’ve had Chester for 34 years. When Chester was developed in early 1986, I was 5 or 6 years old. I look at my nieces and nephews now that are around that age, and they are very inquisitive. When you see your parents working on something like this you have a lot of questions—there weren’t YouTube videos back then. So, they weren’t watching videos to figure this out. It was trial and error. I have friends over the years that have used Chester in nursing school and they have sent me a message saying isn’t that your model? Just the longevity of it is pretty cool. The fact that so many people continue to use it and it’s still helping people is amazing.

Looking back over the years, is there a moment you’re most proud of?

Tom: I think it’s when Reid hit 20 years at VATA. Reid loves cycling and watches the Tour de France and we were able to give him a trip with a couple of his friends to France to go see the Tour de France. That was big for us. We have always cared the most about doing what’s right for our employees and their families.

As you stepped into your current leadership role, what have you learned from your dad?

Andrew: Being able to treat people well has been such a priority for my dad and that’s something that is important for me to carry forward. 

We’re a small company, but well over half of our company have been here for over 10 years. Which is great, you get to know people so much better. This past year and half have been rough for a lot of reasons. Obviously as a business it was difficult but now that we’re rebounding, we still have employees who are torn between work and home schooling their kids. It hasn’t always been easy, but we’ve always let people take time off to be with their kids. We know that in the long run that’s more important. 

Getting our products right is another thing that has always been important to my dad. They need to be accurate—the look and the feel always need to be as accurate as possible and meet the expectation of our customers.

Looking ahead, what’s in VATA’s future?

Andrew: Continuing to run the business as we have is the biggest thing. Continuing to treat people the way that we do, and having that family atmosphere. We also want to continue to grow. There is a huge amount of growth potential in this market. The medical world as a whole isn’t going anywhere. I think COVID will push people to do more simulation training and help medical simulation in the long term. I think going forward there will be more and more need for medical simulation. 

Embracing more technology is also something we’ve started to do more over the last few years. 3D printing, 3D scanning, you can maintain the realism that has always been so important to us. We’re going to continue to build on that. 

VATA Products Out In The World

The Department of Surgery at LSU School of Medicine has held an intern Boot Camp for incoming surgical residents for over 10 years and has become a very important part of our educational program in order to prepare surgical interns for their residency. 

The participants include all General Surgical residents, ENT residents, Vascular integrated residents and Plastic Surgery residents at LSU. We also include the Ochsner Medical Center first year surgical residents and several senior medical students that express an interest in surgery in the course. The course runs for three days and is a combination of didactic and skills sessions. Usually there are from 35 to 40 participants per Boot Camp.

One of the first topics that is discussed is the proper choice of suture and needles and the proper technique for suturing and knot tying. Historically, we have been using animal tissue for the skills session but recently have acquired the VATA suture models. The response from the residents, faculty, and medical students has been very positive in regards to the “natural feel” of the VATA model and note the ease of suturing on the models. The models are easy to store, there is no issue with disposing of animal tissues, and can be used for many sessions.

These models will continue to be an integral part of our Boot Camp and other suture skills training sessions at LSU in the future.

–Dr. John Morrison

Congratulations Norma!

Congrats, Norma on 10 years on the VATA team! Norma works in manufacturing and will celebrate her 10-year anniversary at VATA on July 11th. Norma shared the following about her time with VATA.

What’s your favorite model to work on? Freddie Fistula, Bonnie Bone Marrow, and all of the baby models.

What’s your favorite thing about working at VATA? We are family here and I love that I’m always doing different things. I like to work on different models. I started out making the skin for Peter Picc Line and now I make the veins for the babies. It’s challenging but I enjoy it.

Something you wish people knew about your job? What we do is really important because it’s tied to health. It’s really important to take care of your body and the models we make help people.