He’s not with the football team or marching band. But Greg Linderman, whose place at the Big House is a tent under the south scoreboard, just got his first fan mail.
During the work week, the Allied Health technical coordinator with U-M Med Equip makes sure modern hospital equipment is in top working condition before devices are delivered to discharged University Hospital patients who require them. But on football Saturdays, Linderman heads the Assistance for Persons with Disabilities tent. The service offers complimentary wheelchairs to fans who need them, around 20 per game.
Photo by Scott Soderberg, U-M Photo Services.
The help provided by the service sparked this posting from Jim, no last name or city given, on mgoblue.com:
“I want to publicly thank Greg L., equipment coordinator for U-M Med Equip, and everyone else on the staff at the Big House, who helped my friend Greg and I at the Michigan v. UMass game last Saturday.
“Greg’s wheelchair broke about a block away from the stadium…As we got to the gate the ushers called Greg (Linderman) and he brought a replacement wheelchair…Then he promised to return it to Greg at home…It made what could have been a catastrophe into an enjoyable and memorable day.”
Feedback like this inspires Linderman.
“Just being able to help him out, like he said, it turned what could have been a catastrophe to an enjoyable day,” Linderman says. The service was initiated last year with help from the Athletic Department, which provides runners from ticket gates to the tent.
A Belleville native, Linderman joined the Navy upon graduating from high school in 1990. He served four years, which included the first Gulf War.
“I just grew up real fast,” he says of his military experience. “I served on the battleship USS Wisconsin as a boiler technician. Our battleship was the first to fire a Tomahawk missile in a wartime situation,” he says, adding President George H.W. Bush once visited.
Upon leaving the military, Linderman got a job at U-M in housekeeping. He worked subsequently in grounds and maintenance and the University Press before joining Med Equip in 1999 as a Home Care service technician, delivering equipment to homes.
While Linderman recently helped build a wheelchair ramp at a patient’s Detroit home, his main job today is equipment coordinator at the Home Care Services facility at 2850 S. Industrial.
“We keep track of $4.8 million of medical equipment,” Linderman says. “We make sure all the preventative maintenance is up to date, for hospital beds, respiratory equipment, pediatric monitors, then we also do CO2 monitors and suction machines for trachea patients.”
Linderman says one standout innovation is the portable oxygen concentrator. It can filter regular air to provide oxygen and saves the university money on costs to deliver bulky tanks.
“It’s just amazing how we give these people freedom of mobility. There’s so many cases where these people would otherwise still be stuck in the hospital or a nursing home,” he says. His biggest job satisfaction is seeing how patients benefit.
“Oh man … Did you ever see somebody in the hospital six months and they get to go home and live a quality life?” Linderman asks. “Or the pediatric case when a kid actually gets well enough to remove from a ventilator so they can breathe on their own?
“That’s satisfying. That’s a huge win for us.”
Linderman, of Howell, runs two-to-three miles each night with his dog Diablo, and spends time with daughter Kelsey, and fiance Kelly Marken.
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the university. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
