Ridin’ the Patient Elevators — March 6, 2020: A Date To Be Remembered as the Project Moves Nearer to Completion.
With the Turn of a Key for Elevators 26, 27, and 29, The Passenger Elevators Become Operational
Elevator 26 with operator Joe comfortably sitting in his chair is the featured image for this post.
What a day! When I arrived on the site today there was a lot of activity on and around the aerial lift platform. The aerial lifts were parked at ground level. The whole area was cordoned off with “caution” tape. The preliminary work to take down the tall aerial lift track had begun. That meant one thing. At least one of the passenger elevators inside the structure was operational.
Joe invited me into the elevator to take a ride. “What floor,” he asked. Stunned, I couldn’t think of a floor number. Finally, I said, “Number 11” Without looking at me, Joe blurted out: “Sorry, this elevator only goes to 9.” So anxious to take a ride, I picked a random floor: “The 9th floor, I stammered.”
Elevator No. 26: A Children’s Public Elevator
Elevator operator Joe continued to laugh at my faux pas even after he pushed the “9th” floor button. The protective plywood along the elevator walls will be removed once the project has been completed.The elevator approaches the third floor.As quick as a wink, we arrived on the 9th floor. The door opened and not wanting to leave the elevator, I snapped this photo before the door closed.
Elevator No. 29: A Service and Adult Patient Elevator
From the Ground Floor to the 16th Floor, Back Down to “A” Level, and Off at the Ground Floor
After the ride on Elevator No. 26, I made my way around the quadrant to a bank of four (4) Service and Adult Patient Elevators, which are accessed off of the main east-west corridor that runs the length of the podium.
Dick (sitting), one of the elevator operators discusses the handoff of the elevator key with Jimbo (in the foreground), a foreman with Otis Elevator Company. With the elevator key in his left hand, Dick and Jimbo, an Otis Elevator Company foreman discuss a schedule change and the elevator key handoff at the end of the sift. While the discussion of the key handoff winds down, two electricians wheel their cart into the elevator.After Dick let off the workers on their requested floors, we continued on to the 9th floor to pick up a worker.Pick up on the 9th floor: A worker moves his toolbox into the elevator.The 16th floor: This is the lobby level on the 16th floor where the patients are brought in from the life-flight helicopters. Two elevators to the right are reserved for patients. These two elevators are keyed so that they can go directly to the emergency room (floor 2) or an operating room (floor 3).Going to the ground floor.After we returned to ground level, Dick suggested we go to level “A.” And so, we did.Level “A.” The room directly across from the elevator is the large emergency electrical room.The elevator at the right is the elevator I took to the 16th Floor. It is the only working elevator on this side.
On the way home, it hit me: I was the first nonconstruction worker to ride the internal elevators in the new Medical Center.
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨
