Our Story​

Where do Sterile Processing professionals go to have conversations that no one else is having? How do we access subject matter expertise from around the globe on the issues that matter to frontline technicians, department leaders, and the manufacturers who support us? Who is out there combatting myths and misconceptions on a regular basis? How do we hear about the people, processes, and products that are pushing our industry forward? These are the kinds of questions that set in motion the industry-shaking movement that would become Beyond Clean.

But it all started much smaller than that. On a recommendation from a friend, co-founder and veteran podcaster Justin Poulin sent the following Linkedin message to a random guy (Hank Balch, who would later become the other co-founder):

JUN 21, 2017

Justin Poulin sent the following message at 7:48 PM

Hi Hank,
I've been following your activity on LinkedIn and really appreciate the engagement you are getting from the SPD community. Have you ever thought about doing a podcast?

Hank Balch sent the following message at 10:51 PM

Justin, the thought has "briefly" crossed my mind before. But then I thought about producing, editing, and marketing the podcast and I wilted underneath the pressure, lol. It's still something I think would be a blast and well-received by the industry, but definitely not something I could do by myself. What do you have in mind?

JUN 22, 2017

Justin Poulin sent the following message at 12:13 AM

I have been doing it in sports since 2003 and have a lot of partners. I'm interested in doing it for healthcare, and we'd probably only need to log onto SKYPE with a decent headset. I could get the rest of the work completed for us or do it myself. The key is making the commitment and figuring out what schedule we can support for content. Weekly is best, but 52 topics isn't always easy to flesh out. The preferred length for the show is 20min so it might not be that hard, especially if we established guests and focused on best practices over various topics...

Hank Balch sent the following message at 7:58 AM

You're speaking my language. Can you send me a link to your sports stuff so I can hear what you got? We can totally pull this off.

Justin Poulin sent the following message at 8:29 AM

The show I do is called Celtics Stuff Live. Back in 2006 I secured media credentials for the Boston Celtics while I was still working as a nurse. I took several years off when I was transitioning to sales, but have been back at it for 18mos.

JUN 23, 2017

Hank Balch sent the following message at 5:53 PM

Dude, this is great. I'm in. Is there like a "Podcasting for Dummies" book I should checkout? I've got enough content topics on the blog already to last 18 months at least - not counting any other interviews, etc.

Justin Poulin sent the following message at 5:59 PM

Let's set up a call to discuss next week. I'm thinking we should practice a few without publishing. I can send you the files afterwards to listen to and share with close friends. That will give us some time to establish a rapport before we put it out to the masses. How does that sound?

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Downloads from the first month of the Beyond Clean podcast in August of 2017 totaled 500 listeners, but included a whopping 19 different countries tuning in from around the globe. Interest and excitement around this new platform for Sterile Processing networking and engagement skyrocketed. By the end of 2019, monthly reach had exceed 15,000+ Sterile Processing professionals and extended to over 135 countries.

More than a Podcast:
Consulting, Mentorship, & Conferences

One of the keys to the early success of Beyond Clean was that it was never just about a podcast. This was about an industry — and connecting individuals through innovative, and disruptive platforms such as podcasting, social media, and new technology — to enable Sterile Processing teams to #FightDirty, better, safer, and smarter.