I have walked around this campus many of times via the Bethesda Trolley Trail, & always took a…read moreinterest in what I could see through the black wrought iron fence.
Today, I got the chance to experience what the nation's top medical research agency had to offer.
First & foremost, if you do not have to drive, PLEASE take Metro...hindsight regarding parking is most absolutely 20/20. Plus a little exercise doesn't hurt anybody.
I had an interview today, yet not before the 'screening for access' took place:
Pull vehicle forward.
Turn off engine.
Leave door open.
& then take all of your belongings, including every piece of computer & or electronic devices on your person. While the vehicle was getting screened, so was I.
After a few minutes of having my ID scanned more ways than one, providing the small piece of paper from the initial license plate log in, I was giving a temporary visitor pass with a full headshot & my name displayed.
I was then allowed to go on my way. A way that took 30 minutes of following the map to the dedicated building. Actually, locating the building only took 10 minutes with a couple of u-turns here & there, yet finding parking was the most time consumption.
Kudos to the NIH police officer off the Old G-Town Road gateway entry for pointing me in the right direction to a MLP (Multi-Level Parking garage) that had spaces available. I'm sure if I passed him one more time, he would not have been as friendly. :-)
Although I arrived 45 minutes early, I was now against the clock from finding the building & a parking space. & in clutch mode, the kind spirited parking attendant MLP-6 heard my internal plea & told me to leave my keys with her & to be on my way...THANK YOU Ms. T -working the AM shift!
After a few more friendly fingers pointing me in the right direction, I arrived to the laboratory, one of many massive laboratories housed in one building. Well perhaps I knocked on the wrong door at first, yet the Lab Techs & eventually the Lab Manager were all very nice turning me around to the appropriate laboratory.
Every facet of a person I crossed paths with today, whether maintenance, law enforcement-security check in, clinical, scientific, & even an Educator, was simply pleasant & helpful. I can only imagine the camaraderie amongst everyone within these 27 different institutes that makes up NIH. & their own personal stamp in discovering innovations to improve health & or save lives.
What an amazing & well manicured campus of greenery, LEED buildings, handicap parking spaces, parking buildings (mostly for permit holders), LED crosswalks, & of course the never ending maze of getting around.