Mayor Robert Correia continues to believe favorable demographics could position the city to be a leader for “senior boom” medical device technology and services.

“Over the next 10 to 15 years, the senior population is going to increase 30 percent nationwide. This is the senior boom, if you will, like the Baby Boom after World War II,” Correia said.

Reiterating a theme he asserted during last year’s mayoral campaign, Correia said the “coming economic wave” from this sector will need to provide huge increases in everything senior, from walkers and canes to artificial hips and medical supplies.

Correia said his administration is “pursuing initiatives” and he’s received support from key officials from two of the city’s most noted companies — Lightolier, the lighting manufacturer that’s been here for decades, and Meditech, the medical software innovator that built its new $40 million plant by South Watuppa Pond in the spring.

Correia said local hospitals also could become part of the mix to lure companies in the bio-medical and related fields to expand or set up in Fall River.

While discussions are in the works with several companies, none have reached fruition and he could not name them, Correia said of his first eight months in office.

He used the metaphor of a fisherman throwing the hook and line into the water again and again. “You don’t always catch a fish,” Correia, “but if you don’t keep throwing the line, you never will catch a fish.
“And it’s just as important in a bad economy,” he said.

Correia said he wants to organize a task force to this end and has been bolstered by leaders of these international companies willing to share their experiences with prospects about how locating and expanding here has worked for them.

He cited a competitively low cost of living, including overhead and housing, good quality of life, and a “large, trainable work force.”

Kenneth Fiola Jr., Fall River Office of Economic Development executive vice president, estimated there have been such talks with “three to five” companies in the medical field. He said a couple of prospects came from attending the annual Medical Device Manufacturing trade show held each spring in New York.

Asked when something could materialize, Fiola said, “Probably not by the end of the year, but you never know. There’s nothing to this point.”

The medical device sector is growing in Massachusetts, with about 20,000 employees in the field, Fiola said. The concentration has been in Merrimack Valley cities like Lowell, Lawrence and Andover, he said.
“We think there’s ample opportunity for growth in the SouthCoast,” Fiola said. “We have a couple of medical manufacturing companies here.”

Two established companies include Millstone Medical Outsourcing on North Main Street, primarily a packaging company of sterilized and non-sterilized medical instruments, and Maxon Precision Motors on Waldron Road, making high-precision drive system motors.

Millstone announced in August that the company had expanded its inspection services division by adding state-of-the-art equipment, increasing inspection staff and hiring a new inspection manager.