TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 5 7 "We compare our statistics with the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff's Office, and we run about eight percent of the crime in this general area," Day said. Despite the relatively low crime rate, the security team takes preparation seriously. Through TMCER.org, anyone can sign up for mass notifications through email, phone and text message. "We also have a new system called Perspective that helps us map criminal activity across the property," Day said. "Any incident dispatch or call is logged into the program, and it helps us analyze where the most crimes occur, the most parking incidents, the most suspicious activity. Then we can reallocate our assets according to that analysis." TMC Security has plans in place to deal with a vari- ety of campus-wide emergencies, from radiological releases to weather disasters to active shooters. "You name it, we've done training exercises," Day said. "We've done risk analyses with most of the institutions on their biggest risks. We know how to mitigate it from the outside in." In fact, collaboration between the TMC and its member institutions is paramount to keeping the campus safe, Day said. To that end, emergency direc- tors and security representatives from the TMC and the surrounding area meet for quarterly Security and Emergency Preparedness Council Meetings. "What affects one hospital is going to affect another," Day said. "That's how close we all are." If an emergency occurs on the TMC campus, the security team notifies member institution secu- rity departments and local police chiefs, and then each institution initiates its own protocol. Should an institution request security assistance, TMC is ready to oblige. "We try to be the clearinghouse of communication across the property," said Day. He cited the Memorial Day flooding as an example of a recent major emer- gency on the TMC campus. "Our new policies and procedures instituted after Tropical Storm Allison worked very well, even though we actually took on comparable water to Allison," Day said. "We communicated with institutions to shut their flood doors at certain levels, and we went out to help them with some. The improvements worked." Each day in the Security Services department comes with unique challenges, whether it's the day- to-day tasks of helping the medical center's many visitors and patients or long-term emergency planning. There is one constant, however, that each member of the team emphasized: being busy. "The garages are always full and there are always customers needing assistance," Thompson said. "It keeps me busy, but I love talking with people. I make them laugh, they keep me laughing. This is not just customer service, it's also healing." The TMC security and police vehicles recently received a makeover and now feature updated Texas Medical Center graphics. Many of the visitors to these hospitals have family members who are sick or injured. We can't imagine what is going through their minds, and for that reason you really need to step up your game. — LIEUTENANT SCOTT MEIER TMC Security Services

• Cover