Latest News

Dr. Maria Bell is curious.

She thinks about things, wonders what could happen next, and then finds a path to get there. It’s how she’s been successful in her more than 25 years as a surgeon – treating women with cancer.

And now, it’s how she’s building a nonprofit aimed at keeping schoolchildren safe.

But it all started with a question: What is the metaverse, and how are people using it?

“I bought a ticket to a popular metaverse, and I spent a few months in the space,” Bell said. “I realized there’s a lot of business being done in there.”

She noted that the metaverse – virtual worlds where users interact as avatars – is still in its infancy, but it already has a fair amount of commerce happening in it.

“I realized medicine wasn’t represented in there, and so I wondered if I could develop medical services – such as virtual psychology services,” Bell said. As she learned more, she tried different virtual worlds and began to learn the details of how to build in them.

“I decided to invest in a company that would create medical services, and I hired a new college graduate, and we set about learning the technology,” Bell said.

It might sound far-fetched, but digital imaging – think 3D tours of homes for sale – is already widespread in various capacities. Bell and her employee began digitally scanning buildings, starting with St. Mary’s Church in Sioux Falls.

“The Catholic schools saw it, and they had such positive feedback, they asked us to create models of the schools,” Bell said.

After just a few months in operation, the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, happened. Watching first responders at the scene inspired Bell to change the trajectory of her company. “I pivoted and decided we were going to scan soft targets and put first responder information in there,” Bell said.

With that, Digital Twin Imaging and Secured My School was born. Bell and her team use cameras to scan buildings – making 3D virtual images that are accurate and detailed.

A growing nonprofit

Her first school scan was in Iowa. After presenting a school scan there, the head of the SWAT team approached and said, “‘why isn’t this in every school,’” Bell said. She was hired to scan all of Dickinson County K-12 schools and the county courthouse.

That experience inspired her to establish a nonprofit, so she could pursue grant support for the work and help ease the cost for entities such as school districts.

Her first grant allowed her to scan the schools in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

“These models are available to first responders 24-7, so they can practice,” Bell said, noting this is used for training purposes to help do drills and become familiar with buildings. “They put on a headset and walk through the school virtually. Every first responder says we need this in every building.”

The next grant – $50,000 from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation – allowed her to scan all K-12 schools in the Harrisburg school district. That was completed earlier this year.

“This project takes on a big challenge,” said Patrick Gale, vice president of community investment for the Community Foundation. “This work can help so many different kinds of organizations. Supporting new ideas that help tackle big issues is just one way we invest in the community.”

The work Bell and her team does is time-consuming, but she said the data and meta data have a variety of uses.

“It allows us to interact with all kinds of technology,” Bell said. “If a school has locking mechanisms, like the Bluetooth ones in Harrisburg, we can work with first responders to lock and unlock doors through the model. If an incident happens, and a weapon is scanned, we would know exactly where it is, and we can interface with their closed-circuit cameras and get a live feed.”

Imagine this: Someone is having a stroke, and a paramedic runs into the building. Dispatch can pull up the digital model and help give precise directions for how to find the patient. Or, if there’s a fire, a dispatcher can quickly map just how much hose a firefighter will need to bring inside.

“We are agnostic,” Bell said. “Anything with a URL we can put into the model – schools can use this for facilities maintenance. We can cut out a lot of wasted time, which is money.”

The building models include information such as electric panels, shut-off valves and details about what’s on the roof over classrooms and more.

“Just seeing things, like if a door opens in or out, makes a huge difference,” Bell said.

Potential to help

“The Secured My School technology really impressed us,” said Michael Amolins, director of academic services for the Harrisburg School District. “We think there’s a lot of potential with this and how it can be used with various agencies for training and safety in our schools.”

Bell recently was awarded a contract to map additional soft targets – such as federal buildings. Once the buildings are mapped, customers pay a monthly fee for the software that runs the models and allows them to connect to various public safety systems, such as dispatch.

She said one administrator showed the 3D model of his school at a teacher fair and was able to recruit teachers because of it.

“There are so many reasons why it’s beneficial to have a model of a building like this,” Bell said. “Safety, peace of mind, emergency response – this technology can be helpful in all kinds of situations.”

Gale said philanthropy can help build strong resilient communities – and support innovative projects like this one.

“We know people care deeply about Sioux Falls, and big projects can have a big impact on our community,” Gale said.