Lutheran Security responds to safety concerns
Looking back, it was a few things. In her memory, they happened around the same time and all together made her more concerned about her safety on Lutheran’s campus.
A nurse caring for patients on L&D returned to her car at the end of her shift to find her car’s catalytic converter had been stolen.
A young husband rushing his wife, who was in active labor, into the hospital had his car stolen from the Valet Parking station – in just the few minutes it took him to get her inside the front door and into a wheelchair.
A man walked into the hospital and up to the front desk, brandished a knife and demanded to see his ex-girlfriend, whom he believed was in the hospital having his baby.
Or was it his current girlfriend having someone else’s baby? It doesn’t matter. Shock and fear distort the details over time but the effect is powerful and lasting: The L&D physician I spoke with said she and many on her team at times feel unsafe at work.
“I have become acutely aware of my surroundings. Especially at night, I find it unsettling to be here,” said a physician in the OB/Gyn Department. “In fact, if I’m called to deliver a baby after hours, sometimes I’ll choose to stay after the delivery and sleep in an on-call room rather than go back out to my car in the middle of the night.”
“What I want to make very clear is that I find it unacceptable for any member of our Lutheran community to feel unsafe on our campus and I take responsibility for that,” said Calvin Beasley, VP of Integrative Services at Lutheran. “I also want to point out that feeling unsafe and being unsafe are two different things, and I hope sharing how we’ve prioritized safety at Lutheran in the last year will help physicians and anyone feel more secure.”
Lutheran safety initiatives, progress and successes
More staff, more patrols: Security has increased its staffing in the last year from 60 to 95 percent, which means an increase in security presence campus-wide, including through randomized patrols of the parking lots. Thanks in part to this increased presence, vehicle thefts and related crimes are down 40 percent this year.
Better searches: Increased personnel allows Security to search all patients who arrive by EMS. Since implementation, staff has located and removed more than 100 pocketknives, nearly 1,000 cigarette lighters/vapes, 20 pepper sprays, several personal stun devices and one firearm that might not have been caught without the new weapons screening.
BEST Alerts: Activating a BEST Alert to help the care team manage a combative patient or guest mobilizes a trained team to any care site area within five minutes. The team will de-escalate the situation and, if necessary, enforce consequences, such as barring hostile visitors or facilitating the administrative discharge of aggressive patients. Anyone can activate a BEST Alert by dialing 55 on any hospital phone.
More cameras: A blanket of cameras now continually records 90 percent of Lutheran’s campus.
Other initiatives are in progress, such as increased outdoor lighting, a texting platform that will notify physicians of unfolding security issues, and a partnership with the Wheat Ridge Police Department that will include officers rounding on campus and new technology that will read license plates and identify stolen vehicles.
The one perceived safety issue where progress has stalled? The bus stop. The Physician Parking Lot is located adjacent to the RTD bus stop on 38th Avenue. For patients, a clearly visible bus stop and easy access to it from campus are essential: It’s how many of them get home. But for physicians who park there, it can feel like the ideal launch pad for criminals looking to hide, in close proximity and in plain sight.
The long-term solution is the new Lutheran replacement hospital. Current plans call for a new bus stop to be located on 40th Avenue, and the Physician Parking Lot will be built on the opposite side of campus.
Until then, Beasley stresses that any physician who wants a walking buddy to and from their cars, trained to protect, is encouraged to call Security for an escort anytime at 303-403-6767.
“Honestly, I’m only there a few times a week and often at night, so I haven’t noticed many of these improvements yet,” said the OB/Gyn physician, “but more security cameras, more roaming patrols, these make me feel better. And knowing what’s going on – that there’s an effort to improve campus security and what’s being done – also helps.”
Campus security also is working with WRPD to offer two series of workshops intended to empower physicians and staff to take control of their own safety: verbal de-escalation training and breakaway training, which is simple self-defense.
These workshops will be free and available to all staff and clinicians. They will be unit-based, so participants will engage in scenarios that are tailored specifically to their patient populations and workplace environments.
More information about these sessions will be available in future issues of Pulse and on the units. Physicians who would like to schedule workshops for their care teams are encouraged to reach out to Beasley.
“Lutheran is a target-rich environment, and we can’t eliminate crime,” Beasley said. “But we are committed to giving our clinicians and staff the knowledge and skills they need to help keep themselves safe and identify potential security risks so they can report them to us. The safest-possible environment requires all of us.”
Physicians with additional questions about campus safety measures or concerns can reach out to Beasley at calvin.beasley@imail.org.