Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Litton.
Howard Medical Company in Chicago officially began in March of 1978 with an office desk next to the bed of Ross Litton and a warehouse located underneath the stairs of a one bedroom apartment on Chicago’s near north side. The delivery vehicle was a 1974 brown Chevy Caprice that held 12 cases of underpads fully loaded.
When the Chevy would break down Ross would hail a taxi on Lincoln Ave., give the driver a 20-dollar bill, 4 cases of water mats and send him on his way to the University of Chicago Medical Center. 1st month sales exceeded $134.
We moved in 1982 to 427 W Erie which at that time was an 8-story warehouse, 4 blocks from Chicago’s Cabrini Greens where we rented the foyer for $100/month.
In 1989, we moved to our present location on Elston Ave once rumored to be Al Capone’s garage.
In January of 2016, Mark Litton succeeded his father as owner and president of Howard Medical.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being a small family owned and operated business since 1978, Howard Medical has had many ups and downs. I can only speak to the struggles that I have faced since taking over the company in January of 2016. The main difficulties that I encountered have been:
1.) Transitioning into the President role of the company and attempting to gain the trust and loyalty of current employees.
2.) Attempting to take over responsibility for all of my father’s accounts, while maintaining my own accounts, and taking the trust they had given to my father and transferring that to myself.
3.) Having to fire and hire employees.
4.) Trying to catch up technologically with the industry with a nonexistent budget.
5.) Trying to make my own mark on a company that has existed since I was negative ten years old.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Howard Medical Company story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a second-generation family owned and operated medical distribution company in Chicago, Illinois. We distribute any and all medical supplies to hospitals, doctors, physicians, clinics, and consumers with a strong focus on Chicago. We take great pride in the fact that our existence is predicated by the trust that medical professionals have shown us for almost forty years now. Howard Medical at its core is a combination of the dedicated employees that work here and the clients that we serve.
What sets us apart from the competition is that we exist to serve our clients. We want to know what your problems are so that we can attempt to help. The healthcare industry is an ever-evolving behemoth of an industry and we are here to help you figure it out and come out on top. We are known for coming through for our clients. When you need something done – give us a call and it will happen.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The industry is changing at an incredible pace currently. All the big companies keep getting bigger through mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers. This is great for the big guys but the little guys are getting left behind. This is Howard Medical’s core competency, taking care of small and medium sized health care facilities in Chicago.
Technology is continually having an incredible impact on the industry. From electronic medical records to the emergence of virtual doctors and home health – the rate of change is unprecedented. Technology is emerging at an exponentially increasing rate. Being small and agile we are perfectly positioned to get all new technologies into our clients hands quicker and more effectively than the larger conglomerate corporations.
I believe that we will continually find solutions to extend the lifespan of those who are ailed with what are currently considered deadly diseases. Because of this in the next ten years I believe that continuing care for those with chronic conditions will be vital. We will see a strong push towards physicians utilizing technology to assist patients in the comfort of the patient’s home instead of patients going to the physician’s office.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1690 N Elston, Chicago, IL 60642
- Website: www.HowardMedical.com
- Phone: 773-278-1440
- Email: mark@howardmedical.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowardMedicalCompany/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HowardMedicalCo
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/howard-medical-company-chicago-2
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/organization/4323650/admin/updates
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