CARMEL, IN (INGERSOLL RAND NEWS SERVICE) -- Security Technologies employees Joseph Vaida, Matt Phillips, Robert Fleckner and Bruce Reynolds recently installed a Falcon 8200 automatic door operator in the home of high school student Derek Zike, who is primarily confined to a wheelchair due to injuries he sustained in a tournament hockey game in Ann Arbor, MI, on January 16, 2009. During the game, Derek attempted to make a turn and lost the edge of his skate, fell and crashed head-first into the boards at a high rate of speed. He sustained a burst fracture of the fifth cervical vertebrae, which, in simple terms, is a broken neck.

While Derek was recovering in the hospital, friends, neighbors and the hockey community came together to remodel the first floor of the family home in Fishers, IN, into living quarters and a physical therapy room. Security Technologies donated a Falcon 8200 automatic door operator to make access easy for Derek. "Having an automatic door opener has given Derek a sense of freedom," said his mother, Robin Zike. "Now he can get out of the house whenever he wants."

Derek recently started his senior year of high school. He can use his arms, hands and parts of his fingers, allowing him to operate his wheelchair, eat, draw and work a computer. He also can move his toes on command. The line of paralysis has moved down five levels, from under his armpit to below the last rib, an important clue that his spinal cord is slowly repairing itself.

For more information, please visit www.derekzike.com.