ASIS INTERNATIONAL HOUSTON CHAPTER
MEETING MINUTES: March 30, 2005
The luncheon meeting was held at Renaissance Hotel. Chapter Chairman Darin Dillon CPP presided. 64 members and guests attended.
Permanent nametags are available, sponsored by Crescent Realty.
Opening prayer and Pledge: Wanette Fountain
Committee Activities:
Treasurer: Bob Cascino reviewed and distributed the report. He has filed our IRS tax return.
Newsletter: Tom Hamilton CPP stated the newsletter is at the printer and will be mailed next week. He was also pleased to announce that we have full sponsorship and they expect to meet the scholarship goal.
Golf Tournament: The new location is Southwyck Golf Club in Pearland on May 16. 9:00 AM Shotgun start with breakfast served starting at 8:00 AM. This is our major fundraiser, which supports the Criminal Justice scholarship program at UHD. Registration information was distributed. We have the option of registering and paying on-line. WFI/Enco has become a Platinum Sponsor. AIG/AG and Securitas are Gold Sponsors. Detailed information can be found on our web page.
Certifications: 18 people are participating in this review. There is one more class left in this review session.
Houses of Worship: Lewis Eakins CPP announced his committee gave two presentations, one in Baytown and one in Houston. In June, Lewis is also scheduled to meet with Ministers Against Crime, an organization sponsored by HPD. Matt also did an assessment of another church, referred by a Houston Police Officer. The Catholic Diocese for the Houston/Galveston wants to partner with the committee. The Diocese covers a 10 county area. Lewis also received a call from ASIS International Foundation, requesting information on how we are organizing the project. There are only two or three in existence in the country.
Training:
o Locke Protective Services is sponsoring a free audio conference seminar on “Promoting a Safe Environment of Care”. It will be held April 4, 2005 from 11:30 to 1:00 at UHD. Flyers were distributed.
o The local chapter seminar will be August 12-13.
Legislation: Joe Olivarez announced:
o HB 1769 was going to the floor today, with some amendments attached.
o There is new discussion about HB 896, which would allow employees with concealed handgun permits to bring their weapons onto company property.
o A new bill, which provides low-interest loans for law enforcement and firemen, is being expanded to include security officers.
o There will be a meeting on maritime issues on 4/4 at 9AM at the Port of Houston.
Misc:
Law Enforcement Recognition Award: HPD Officer Heidi Ruiz; accompanied by her supervisor, Lt. Bill Staney.
Officer Ruiz has been with HPD for 11 years; 6 years with the Juvenile Sex Crimes Investigation Unit. Prior to that, she served 8 years with the Marine Corps.
Officer Ruiz has performed outstanding investigations into sexual assault cases against children. In 2001, she was assigned to a case whereupon a nine-year-old victim was sexually assaulted by a known professional rapper. Officer Ruiz showed a relentless pursuit of the facts and discovered seven additional victims. One victim in San Antonio, who failed to disclose any sexual abuse after being interviewed by the District Attorney’s Office, revealed details of the offense to Officer Ruiz. Although she could have limited her investigation to her assigned case, Officer Ruiz went beyond to build a larger case against the perpetrator and his repeated pattern of assault.
On July 25, 2004, Officer Ruiz was assigned an Aggravated Kidnapping/Aggravated Sexual Assault case of an eleven-year-old girl. The child and her older cousin were walking in the 3800 block of Brookfield when a man in a pickup truck drove up along side them. The man got out of the vehicle and chased the girls a short distance before taking hold of the younger child. He brought her back to the truck and drove to a motel. After violently abusing her, the suspect released the girl near Almeda Genoa Road. Officer Ruiz interviewed the traumatized victim and learned that the child did not know where the motel was located, but admitted that she might recognize it if she saw it again. Officer Ruiz canvassed the area for the motel based upon the child’s statement. She then contacted the HPD Forensic Artist to develop a composite sketch of the suspect that was distributed to Crime Stoppers as a wanted person bulletin. Employing every available investigative tool, Officer Ruiz followed each lead, spending many hours on the case. Within two weeks of the incident, Officer Ruiz had received information leading to the identification and eventual apprehension of the suspect.
Officer Ruiz was presented a plaque in appreciation of her commitment and contributions to making a safer community.
Speaker: Richard E. Wainerdi, P.E., Ph.D
President,
CEO & COO, Texas Medical Center
Topic: Texas Medical Center Past, Present & Future
Dr. Wainerdi was elected President, CEO and COO of the Texas Medical Center in 1984, after his retirement from the Gulf Oil Corporation.
He began his presentation with a history of the TMC. Monroe Anderson was a local merchant who became extremely wealthy trading cotton. Because he had no family, he established a foundation for his $19 million inheritance. Another important figure in establishing TMC was Dr. Bertner, the Chief Surgeon to General Pershing in WW1. He came to Houston after with war and was enlisted to establish his practice here, as there were no board certified physicians in Houston. He stayed and became the Chief of Staff and Chief Medical Officer for the Hermann Hospital in 1923. His dream was to build a medical center on 134 acres of property adjoining Hermann Park, bringing together all factors of education and treatment in one location. The idea of a medical center “so close” to the one in Galveston was not well-received; however voters approved the purchase of the land at $3,000/acre.
At the same time, there was a bill in the Texas Legislature to approve funding to build a hospital for the Criminally Insane and Cancer Treatment. It was decided to build two hospitals instead; the one for the Criminally Insane was built in Rusk, Texas and is still operating. The other was built with Houston, with the stipulation that it be named after Monroe Anderson, who provided the original funds. M.D. Anderson Hospital is six times larger than any other cancer treatment center in the world, including Sloan Kettering in New York. M.D. Anderson has 3,500 outpatients a day compared to 500 at Sloan.
The next decision was to start a medical school to be associated with the hospital, and Baylor University moved from Dallas to provide medical training. TMC now includes 46 institutions, including the largest children’s hospital and the largest cardio-vascular center. TMC is three times larger than any other medical center in the world with 6800 employees. The second largest is in Bethesda, Maryland, with 1800 employees. TMC encompasses 28 million square feet, currently enlarging to over 39 million square feet. That makes it larger than any downtown area in Ohio and larger than downtown Austin. It has the largest single parking area with 56,000 parking spaces, including all major airports (Disney has 15,000). It is the third point of destination for Heads of State; 45 Heads of State come for treatment every year.
Parking is still the greatest challenge as the roads leading to the Center cannot handle the traffic. All its utilities (water, gas, phone lines) are under-designed to handle the rate of growth. Amazingly, the Center has an extremely low crime rate.
Each institution has its own “governance”. Dr. Wainerdi considers himself the “mayor” of a city. He feels the future focus must be on “healthcare”, not “sick” care. All the medical staff in the world could not treat or heal everyone that is sick. Twenty percent of disease will kill you, but eighty percent will cure itself. One third of all patients treated in this country are treated for self-induced trauma: from alcohol, drugs, sex, smoking or violence. Guns and weapon wounds are so prevalent that the military send their doctors to TMC to train for war. We have to reduce the conditions that are caused by this self-induced trauma.
He also feels we need to refocus the money that is spent on “sick” care. 40% of patients in intensive care will never leave. We spend more money on the first six months of our lives and again on the last six months of our lives without focusing on the “healthcare” that comes in-between. He is working to develop a National Center for Human Performance, which will encourage people to perform “naturally” and without the use of steroids, chewing tobacco and enhancing drugs. We need to change our view of our role models. Astronauts are our best role models. They are highly motivated, monitored and high performers. In summary, the TMC is a gift to the world.
After a question and answer period, Dr. Wainerdi accepted a plaque in appreciation of his time and presentation.
Our next meeting is April 27. Our speaker is Keith Medford – FBI Houston; who will address terrorism and discuss the recent apprehension of an individual performing surveillance in Houston.