At HP we don't just make Printers...
Besides being an avid gamer, I have always had an interest in bridging advanced technology with health care. The spark started when my father died many years ago, shortly after Voodoo broke into the U.S. market. He was struck with a brain tumor, which seemingly came out of nowhere and he died within months. The spark ignited further when one of my greatest friends became a radiologist -- and over the years he has shared many stories and ideas with me, all of which could lead to the betterment of health care all over the world. I always believe that working at HP enables me to explore other areas of technology that I may never have access to otherwise.
What's neat about HP is there are areas of the business that I know nothing about that pop up almost on a daily basis. Take today, for example, where I received a Facebook message from a gentleman who asked me to thank the people behind the HP Medical Systems side of the business.
I was so blown away by it that I asked him if I could publish it on my blog, and he agreed. It's a really cool story, and makes me love my job even more.
Below is the message he sent me.
Hey Rahul!
Next time you see anyone from the Medical Systems division at HP, please give them a heartfelt thank you for me... It was HP technology that saved my daughter's life last week during her delivery. It is however just a coincidence that her initials are HP - Holly Profeta. :)
After about 8 1/2 hours of textbook labour, Holly's heart rate crashed. Since she was hooked up to that HP fetal monitor, we knew there was something wrong right away, before it was too late.
The nurses sprang into action and within 30 seconds, the room filled with a dozen doctors, nurses and all kinds of other equipment. They had Holly out within about 4 minutes after noticing the problem, and it happened to be that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck 2 1/2 times. The NICU doctors had her breathing very quickly after delivery and there was no permanent damage done.
If it wasn't for that one piece of HP technology... Well, things would unquestionably be very different right now.
A simple story, certainly... But a life-changing one. :)
Take care - hope all is well with you!
Paul.
Wow are you kidding me? I didn't even know we made those. Go figure. Well Paul I'm sure everyone at HP will receive this message very warmly, thank you for taking the time out to send it. I think you made my week.
Incidentally, I did hear back from some HP'ers who say we sold the medical device business a few years ago, but you never know what the future will bring.
What's neat about HP is there are areas of the business that I know nothing about that pop up almost on a daily basis. Take today, for example, where I received a Facebook message from a gentleman who asked me to thank the people behind the HP Medical Systems side of the business.
I was so blown away by it that I asked him if I could publish it on my blog, and he agreed. It's a really cool story, and makes me love my job even more.
Below is the message he sent me.
Hey Rahul!
Next time you see anyone from the Medical Systems division at HP, please give them a heartfelt thank you for me... It was HP technology that saved my daughter's life last week during her delivery. It is however just a coincidence that her initials are HP - Holly Profeta. :)
After about 8 1/2 hours of textbook labour, Holly's heart rate crashed. Since she was hooked up to that HP fetal monitor, we knew there was something wrong right away, before it was too late.
The nurses sprang into action and within 30 seconds, the room filled with a dozen doctors, nurses and all kinds of other equipment. They had Holly out within about 4 minutes after noticing the problem, and it happened to be that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck 2 1/2 times. The NICU doctors had her breathing very quickly after delivery and there was no permanent damage done.
If it wasn't for that one piece of HP technology... Well, things would unquestionably be very different right now.
A simple story, certainly... But a life-changing one. :)
Take care - hope all is well with you!
Paul.
Wow are you kidding me? I didn't even know we made those. Go figure. Well Paul I'm sure everyone at HP will receive this message very warmly, thank you for taking the time out to send it. I think you made my week.
Incidentally, I did hear back from some HP'ers who say we sold the medical device business a few years ago, but you never know what the future will bring.
6 comments:
Awesome story... although I think Agilent took ownership of all the medical equipment including the Fetal Monitors when they spun off from HP in 1999. Although I'm sure much of the equipment still in service today still carry the HP logo.
It is surprising that HP's roots are actually in test and measurement equipment, but that business was cut off.
This is a technology story at its best. Technology sans marketing crap and without the pandering need to make a buck. Technology should improve our lives... I'm sure nobody was struggling with some BS configuration setting or cared whether Intel was "Inside" and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a Microsoft logo in sight (she survived so I think I'm making a pretty reasonable assumption, haha).
I wish technology companies focused more on how to improve people's experience with technology so that stories like this became the main focus.
HP has left its mark with the world. You can tell that because Agilent equipment not only carries the same part numbers as the HP equipment, but anybody that's used an HP instrument will instantly be able to recognize and operate an Agilent instrument.
Luckily the medical and test and measurement divisions (which of course is how HP got started) didn't go through the same kind of phase the computer division did.
Yeah; HP have been out of the medical products area a while now; and I doubt any of those employees are still with us (yes I work for HP). My daughter had two open-heart surgeries before her first birthday, all of the cardiac measurement equipment was HP, but after spinning off Agilent, they too have resold this bit off to Philips who now maintain, service the equipment. Newer Philips models (with cool wireless features) are being rolled out to replace the old HP gear - but the fact they've been around this long is testament!
Cheers,
-Matt
can I ask you A question? I am ordering one of your customized voodoo computers and it says no interest and no pay for a year but do i have to pay a down payment or something? Because there has to be a catch
I like the new header image better than the old one. Nice work. So do you do all of your blog design, or does one of your henchmen do it?
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