Womack Machine Supply Company gift touches every patient 

By Erin Prather Stafford

When patients and their loved ones arrive at UT Southwestern Medical Center, helpful staff members are always on hand to greet them. Guest and Patient Services, a fundamental part of clinical operations, is dedicated to making every visitor’s experience as comfortable and as pleasant as possible.

In support of this service, the Womack Machine Supply Company recently pledged $100,000 to support Guest and Patient Services at UT Southwestern. Womack is an industrial distributor of supplies and components for hydraulic, pneumatic, and automation control systems with corporate offices in Farmers Branch, Texas. The company’s customers span across several industries, including energy, agriculture, construction, and defense.

“After hearing positive feedback about the guidance and support our folks have received during their time of need from Guest and Patient Services, we chose to support them with our donation pledge,” said Trish Henderson, a Womack representative. “We wanted to give back to an area at UT Southwestern that has provided outstanding service for several of our employees and their family members.”

A spirit of giving is not a new concept at Womack. Its founder, R.C. “Bob” Womack, had a long history of philanthropic efforts in Dallas. Described as a relentless innovator in the mode of Thomas Edison, Mr. Womack began building specialty machines at the age of 17 and established Womack Machine Supply Company in 1953. After losing a daughter to breast cancer, he and his wife, Ruth, established the Donna Dusek Breast Cancer Fund through UT Southwestern. Mr. Womack passed away in 2013.

Current CEO Mike Rowlett followed his predecessor’s example. He began his career at Womack in 1978 as a sales trainee, and in 2006, he purchased the company and became its CEO. Under his leadership, he has made giving back to the community a top priority across all departments. In addition to UT Southwestern, the company’s 185 employees across 18 states have been involved in numerous worthy endeavors. Mr. Rowlett’s beliefs are rooted in a famous statement by Zig Ziglar: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Prior to the 2017 pledge of support for UT Southwestern, Womack had made several previous gifts to the Medical Center, totaling $100,000, which were used to purchase newstaff uniforms for Guest and Patient Services employees at the Medical Center. “Dressing the staff so they can be easily recognized has an immediate and positive impact on the experience of patients and visitors,” said Dr. John Rutherford, Vice President for Clinical Operations at UT Southwestern. “We are grateful to the employees of Womack Machine Supply Company for their ongoing support and recognition of the important role Guest and Patient Services plays every day in patient care.”

Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at hospitals and during business hours at clinics, Guest and Patient Services employees do much more than just greet patients and visitors. They also provide wheelchair and valet assistance, coordinate translation services, offer directions, make hotel arrangements, and schedule food or flower deliveries. Staff also serve patients and families at the Patient and Family Resource Center, located on the main ground-floor lobby of the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

“This generous gift by Womack Machine Supply Company has the potential to touch every patient who comes to the Medical Center,” said Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky, President of UT Southwestern. “Guest and Patient Services helps ensure that our patients and their families feel truly cared for, creating the best environment for healing.”

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

Dr. Rutherford holds the Jonsson-Rogers Chair in Cardiology.