A Santa Maria medical manufacturing firm and a Central Coast nonprofit creating housing for low-income residents shared the spotlight during the EconAlliance event Thursday night in Santa Maria. 

EconAlliance’s Annual Dinner and Future Forum at the Santa Maria Country Club featured speakers talking about the use of artificial intelligence in the health care industry.

Hardy Diagnostics received the EconAlliance Innovation Award, recognizing the Santa Mara firm manufacturing and distributing microbiology products used in clinical, pharmaceutical and food industries. 

Jay Hardy, co-founder and retired president, along with Andre Hsiung, chief scientific officer, accepted the award from Tony Guy, Santa Maria Public Airport District board member and retired aerospace industry executive.

Launched in Santa Barbara, the business relocated to Santa Maria in 1991 and now operates in several buildings on McCoy Lane.

“What sets Hardy Diagnostics apart from other large businesses is the culture,” Guy said, noting a portion of the earnings go to a variety of local nonprofit organizations.

Hardy Diagnostics employs more than 400 people and has become an employee-owned enterprise often named one of the best places to work in the Santa Maria Valley and Santa Barbara County, Guy added.

“I have to say a good word for the other manufacturers in the group here. Manufacturers are really, really vital for a healthy economy in the community because we import money into the community,” said Jay Hardy. 

Companies like Hardy Diagnostics import money from around the world since they export their products to other countries.

“This is what’s helping our whole community, allowing us to provide good-paying jobs,” Hardy said. 

The business supplies 2,700 products, many custom and proprietary, according to Hardy, who praised the firm’s employees.

“It takes a lot of work to develop these formulas. They’re the ones that deserve the credit,” Hardy said.

Former People’s Self-Help Housing leader John Fowler presented the Impact Award to current Chief Executive Officer and President Ken Trigueiro, recognizing the nonprofit  that has developed 11 affordable apartment projects with 486 rental units and 427 sweat-equity affordable homes for first-time buyers. 

“It’s so great to have our work validated by you all,” Trigueiro said, adding the 5,000 residents of PSHH housing projects in four counties work at more than 1,200 small businesses.

“It is amazing what you’ve done and what the organizations has done over the last 50 years,” said Laurie Tamura, EconAlliance board president and land-use planning consultant.

Additionally, PSHH has three affordable apartment projects in North County with 208 units for rent, as well as the one homeowner project consisting of 49 single-family homes in the pipeline. 

The event also included presentations from Dr. Monique Diaz, chief medical officer from California Dignity Health, and Aaron Poirer, executive director of operations for the Lompoc Valley Medical Center, about AI’s use in health care. 

Poirer said one AI tool, ambient scribe, records interactions between doctors and patients to keep medical professionals focused on health care issues, not a computer screen. 

“The goal of utilizing ambient scribe is really returning time back to the provider to be with the patient,” Poirer said. “They don’t learn in medical school how to document, they learn how to care for patients.” 

The nonprofit EconAlliance advocates for and supports assorted industries, including agriculture, technology, aerospace, energy, and healthcare in northern Santa Barbara County.

EconAlliance’s seventh Growing Possibilities Ag Forum will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge, 1309 N. Bradley Road. For details or to register, click here.