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t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 7 7 summers, but researchers gain envi- ronmental control in their laboratories. Maintaining a comfortable interior tem- perature allows equipment to function properly and ensures that research and experiments aren't compromised. "A lot of the research specimens and a lot of experiments have evolved so that the environment is much more sen- sitive to them than it would normally be," Swinson said. "A small change in temperature, a small change in humid- ity, a small change in light intensity can adversely affect that." In addition to heating buildings, pressurized steam is used to sterilize laboratory, medical and surgical instru- ments and waste materials (including pathogenic hospital waste) in auto- claves—industrial pressure chambers. The moist heat from pressurized steam causes the proteins in various micro- organisms to denature and coagulate, effectively destroying the cell mem- branes and cooking the microorgan- isms to death. This sterilization process is espe- cially important to prevent patients from contracting diseases and infec- tions caused by bacteria on medical A ll the ingredients for a unique memorial. W E B E L I E V E I N C E L E B R AT I N G the individual. So if that means arranging a BBQ memorial with all the trimmings, consider it done. Let your Dignity Memorial ® professionals take care of all the details for a farewell with flavor. > DignityHouston.com < MEMORIAL OAKS Funeral Home & Cemetery HOUSTON 281-497-2210 FUNERAL HOME AND CEMETERY LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA, INCLUDING: EARTHMAN Funeral Directors – Hunters Creek HOUSTON 713-465-8900 www.prepaidfunerals.texas.gov or surgical instruments. At the Texas Medical Center, a place that hosts more than 10 million patient visits, delivers more than 25,000 babies and performs 180,000 surgeries every year, sterilized tools and instruments are paramount to patient safety and healthy outcomes. "When somebody goes home from the medical center, I know they don't tell their family, 'If it weren't for the doctors and TECO, I wouldn't be here,'" Swinson said. "But we do kind of know it—not in an arrogant way. It is really personally fulfilling to do what we're doing." Since it was established in 1969, TECO has focused on efficiency and reliability. Standard power plants typically use one-third of the fuel they produce, with the rest going unused. TECO's system reuses and recycles electricity and waste heat produced from the plant, reducing emissions by 32,700 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Despite the grand scale of TECO's work, every tunnel in its infrastruc- ture is dug by hand, an old-fashioned method that would seem to contradict the state-of-the-art technology and scientific advancements being made across the campus. (continued) In reality, we're a big part of the med center, but we're a quiet part. — CHARLIE MICHALAK Maintenance manager and long-time employee of TECO