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The Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center in Loma Linda, California, is a vast facility encompassing schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, allied health professions, public health, pharmacy, and science and technology. In addition, the complex includes hospitals for adults, children, behavioral medicine and rehabilitation. Each year, the medical center admits more than 33,000 inpatients and 500,000 outpatients. It is the only level one regional trauma center for Inyo, Mono, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. In addition, more than 2,400 medical students are in training each year at the university.
In 2004, Suzy Douma, director of security for the facility, saw a news feature on the Segway® Human Transporter and instantly recognized it as a possible solution to the challenges they faced in patrolling the sprawling campus.
“I first looked into the machines on Segway.com, then talked to one of our lieutenants about conducting a short trial to see if in fact they improved our patrol capabilities,” says Douma. “We contacted our local Segway dealer in Palm Desert, and tested a couple of units for just a few days. A short time later we purchased two Segway PTs through our parking fund, and have now used them for over a year to patrol the entire local campus as well as the hospital that’s about a block away.”
According to Douma, the two Segway PTs are in continual use by her department, and just over half of the 43 officers on the security team have been trained to use them. “We use them for daily rounds where we lock and unlock the doors at our various facilities, and even take them into the nine-story medical center,” says Douma. “A few of the doctors use their own Segway PTs to zip all over the place, so the technology is quite familiar to medical center employees and patients. Prior to purchasing the Segway PTs our officers did the beat on foot. For a period of time we also used bicycles to patrol some of the parking areas, but we have discontinued that.”
One of the unforeseen benefits to Douma’s security department has been the Segway PTs proficiency as a PR tool. “When we are on the Segway PTs we stop and talk to people and let them try them out,” says Douma. “I want my officers to be highly visible and approachable so the public can feel comfortable reporting things. The Segway PTs foster this interaction and makes our job easier. It is exactly what we were looking for.”
Call a Segway Inc. Account Manager toll-free at 1-866-4SEGWAY today to learn more about how the Segway PT can get your business rolling.
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