TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 5 5 O n a recent Thursday morning, Lieutenant Scott Meier steered into one of the Texas Medical Center's 20 garages. He slowly drove up each level in the garage, eyes scanning cars looking for any sign of trouble or visitors in need of assistance. Meier is part of the team that tackles the monumental task of maintaining safety and order in the biggest medical center in the world. With 56 member institutions and 42 TMC-owned garages and parking lots, the Texas Medical Center campus has a lot of ground to cover—but the TMC Security Services team is ready to handle any threat that arises, all while lending a helping hand to the millions who visit the TMC each year. On that particular day, Meier was one of the eight to 13 security officers assigned to patrol the medi- cal center that shift. Every day is divided into three FROM DEAD CAR BATTERIES TO CAMPUS-WIDE EMERGENCIES, THE TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER'S SECURITY SERVICES TEAM IS PREPARED TO RESPOND TO ANY CALL. B y S h e a C o n n e l l y Always at the Ready 8.5-hour shifts, with a half-hour of overlap between shifts. Generally, two officers conduct a full campus patrol, while one to two officers are assigned to each of four districts on the campus. "They're trained to handle a variety of situations, they're very customer-service oriented and they're our face out there in the garage," said Cheyne Day, director of TMC Security Services. On an average day, officers take numerous motor- ist and customer assist calls, from jump-starting cars and retrieving keys locked in vehicles, to helping visitors navigate the parking payment system or find where their cars are parked. Calls to the security team phone number, plastered on the campus secu- rity vehicles, come in through the TMC Operations Center. All security officers also monitor the same radio channel. What affects one hospital is going to affect another. That's how close we all are. — CHEYNE DAY Director of TMC Security Services

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