Comfortable vs Secure: Which would YOU choose?

Since September 11^th, security concerns for healthcare institutions have become a bigger and bigger challenge. Unlike an airport or nuclear facility, hospitals do not have the freedom to just increase security due to raised threat levels because marketing is more difficult for a hospital.   

What I mean is this: there needs to be a certain confidence in the hospital on the part of the patient and a high level of security can damage that confidence level.  After all, if you have two hospitals in your city, one in a bad section of town where police officers roam the E.R. driveway and the other is a pristine community hospital settled in a higher end community near the mall, which facility do YOU drive to at 3 am?

Another challenge on the part of hospitals is the socio-environmental change that established health care facilities face as the population landscape evolves.  Language barriers, neighborhood decline, increased crime rates in older communities, over-crowded emergency rooms due to population growth and even economics all pose new threat challenges that are almost too much for a hospital to address while trying to maintain a high level of care.

According to studies, the Emergency Room is the most vulnerable area of a hospital. Let’s face it: at 3 a.m. in Triage Room 1 we have a possible overdose patient with his fiancée who is higher than a kite. In the waiting room is a growing crowd of those who were at the same party. In Triage Room 2 we have the 12 year old boy with an appendix issue, but he is accompanied by his divorced parents who cannot keep from yelling threats at each other.  Of course in Triage Room 3 Grandpa just passed away and the 8 family members have now gone bezerk… you see the problem.

 Life in an E.R. can be crazy on a normal night so try to imagine a flu outbreak, one or two patients in police custody and perhaps some severe weather tossed in.

Priority one must be the patient care, but quickly following this must be the safety of the staff. 

 

In July 2009, the Emergency Nurses Association released some scary findings claiming that more than half of emergency nurses polled had been physically assaulted on the job and 25% had been victims of violence more than 20 times in the past 3 years!

A group of hospital administrators told pollsters in a recent survey by AlliedBarton Security Services that they feel their facilities are more vulnerable today than in past years, but still worry about security measures damaging their reputation and patient confidence.

According to these studies, hospital administrators are concerned about projecting a negative image, but I want to ask the question, AT WHAT COST?

I am the first to be irritated at the airport when I am running late and behind some idiot with three carry-ons loaded with nail clippers and large shampoo bottles, but as I sit on the plane itself and look over the barb-wired runways, I am reminded of the day that changed everything and I am glad TSA tore that man’s bags apart.

Touring public schools, I have to admit I feel better being in a building that has held my drivers license at the front desk. I feel safer at an elementary school than I do at WalMart, that’s for sure.

Would I mind increased and more visible security at a hospital? Absolutely not. Why? Because we live in a changing environment where climate change no longer refers to just meteorological phenomenon but to the change in our social structures, economics and politics one would be a fool to ignore that we are living in a new and dangerous time.

So, what has me on this subject?

Last night I drove my wife to the local hospital with labor pains apparently 20 minutes apart.  Arriving at the hospital, we noticed immediately that the emergency room had approximately 20 people milling about in it.  For a hospital this size, this was a decent crowd for 9:30 on a Saturday night. 

The hospital "closes" at 8:00 p.m.

As we entered, there did not seem to be any crucial  issues; most of those in the waiting room were sniffling, sneezing or holding their stomachs… a flu night.

As we approached the desk, the woman at the desk (the only employee visible in the room) quickly guessed why we had come.

“In labor?”

We informed her that we need to go to the Birthing Center and she quickly called upstairs to let them know their night was not going to be a quiet one. Once done notifying the folks upstairs, she proceeded to check us in. Drivers Licenses, emergency phone contacts, birth dates, the works.  She then instructed us to go to the Security Desk to be escorted upstairs, but the desk, which was 20 feet away, was empty.

The perplexed woman said she had no idea where the security guard was and, with a remote control, buzzed us through the glass double doors…

With no directions and new signage not completely installed due to the recent remodeling of the hospital, we were quickly lost in the maze of hallways. After 5 minutes we had encountered not one employee, custodian or nurse. It seemed the more we walked, the more lost we got. Soon, we were in a hallway with little lighting but we found an open door, a desk and a phone.

Picking up the receiver, I dialed “0”. The switchboard operator laughed when I told her I was lost and calling from inside the hospital. I asked for someone to come and get us, but the operator just instructed us to find and elevator and go the next floor.

I will make this story a lot shorter than it really is…

We ran into a nurse who spoke in broken English that gave us access to a back elevator but claimed she did not know how to get to the Birthing Center from our location.

We walked through the hospital after hours for another 20 minutes. We walked through the Nuclear Medicine Department, through the Outpatient Surgery wing, in and out of offices, explored two floors of hallways and rooms before we jumped on another elevator and took it to the parking lot.

All concern of labor pains and the impending birth had left us; we wanted to see just how bad this really was…

That was 9:30 last night. As of 4:00 p.m. today, nobody from the hospital has contacted us to find us. After 18 hours, that hospital’s records show us checked in and on our way upstairs.  The birthing center never called to see why we did not make it, the Emergency Room never called to see where we were, and we left though an unmarked door after passing through fire doors marked “Locked after Hours”.

In case you are wondering, we went to a different hospital.

How confident would you be in taking your child to that hospital in the future knowing that their security was so poorly managed?  With this as the option, wouldn’t you rather have a metal detector and RFID system in place when you entered a hospital?  At what point are we going to start looking at our present day world and start making changes across the board even if they make us uncomfortable?

In these studies I have read, hospital agreed that one of the most important characteristics of a good security program is that the security officers feel responsible for customer service and patient satisfaction. As it turns out, there are many hospitals that struggle with finding the balance between gently escorting patients and beating down a shooter in a security guard, so the choice is more often to find the gentle, low-key approach as the only option.

A great marketing choice…but what if last night my wife and I had actually been there for terroristic purposes?  What if we had been looking to kidnap a patient, steal equipment or leave an incendiary device?  We certainly would have had the time!  In fact, according to hospital records, we are still in there!

There is a lesson to be learned here, and I am afraid it goes much further than hospitals.  Perhaps we should look at the danger of exceptions…

Maybe we were allowed in only because the guard was in the restroom. Maybe we were buzzed in because the E.R. Admitting nurse was overwhelmed.  Maybe we gained access because we look like a “nice couple”.

Maybe none of those reasons would explain away a shooting or a bombing incident during an investigation nor would it return lost lives.

Maybe we should talk about the high school in Central Illinois that recently battled the heat wave and high temps in classrooms by propping their entry doors open throwing their security protocols out the window?  Maybe we should look at the increased number of church shootings and lack of trainings amongst faith-based entities…

Maybe we should just start re-thinking all of it, and then perhaps we should be a bit more willing to give up “comfortable” for “safer”.

Just something to start you all thinking… I’ll let you all know if the hospital ever starts looking for us.

Choosing when to die

As Halloween was drawing closer and plastic pumpkins decorate store fronts, I figured it may be appropriate to write a blog about death.

 There are a number of ways to die as proven by the news feeds everyday, but two ways of dying have stood out to me lately as something to ponder.

The first way to die is with honor, dignity and while leaving others with pleasant if not inspiring memories. My wife and I took a quiet drive through an old cemetery this week and amidst the quietness there was the loud testimonies of those buried there…

 “A mother that lived for her children”
 “A soldier others followed”
 “A man of integrity and kindness”

 The list could go on and on. It makes one wonder, “What would they say of me?”

 If we were to live our lives constantly thinking of what others will write on that slab of granite, it may very well change the way we all live. Are we generous? Are we trustworthy? Are we dedicated? Do we love? Give? Listen? I would be afraid to think what some would write on that stone… perhaps I should try to change a few things…

You see, we often believe that the last phase of life is that moment when we breathe in that last breath, but in reality, the last phase is after we are gone and are only remembered. What is engraved on that tombstone is the summary of every first impression you have ever made…

With that said, let’s talk of the second way to die. The second way one can die is way before that last breath. It is at that moment when opportunity knocks and you answer the door wearing oversized sweat pants, a stained tank top and your hair a mess… First impressions. They can lead to a legacy or a nightmare of failure. I am afraid that our younger generation rarely understands the importance of that first moment. I am convinced a majority of them do not understand the importance of a solid beginning.

Last week I was given a tour of a large elementary school. As the principal proudly walked me through the hallways, I was amazed by the number of young teachers standing outside their classrooms checking their smart phones while surrounded by young students waiting for instructions. Of course after leaving the school I waited at a gas station for the cashier to finish texting her boyfriend before she could ring up my coffee.

Later, my waitress actually set her phone on the food tray so she could monitor her FaceBook while carrying my meal.

Three tombstones. Three premature deaths in one day.

I will never visit that station, send my child to that school or attempt to enjoy a meal at that restaurant again.

The very technology that could create heroes from this new generation could very well be killing them. In the field of emergency management and response there are certain characteristics we look for in partners, agents, associates, members, volunteers and employees. Amongst these character qualities there lies those most crucial; attention to detail, vigilance, passion and consistency. The handheld technology designed to better the world (and perhaps save it) has become the reason why many of our young people will never reach their potential in the field of disaster response or emergency management.

As I tour I hear from young people their concern for their futures. They wonder where they will find work, who will hire them and how much they will make.  My answer is, it depends on how well you understand real life. REAL life.

I believe that this generation might very well have the ability to stand in the middle of a tornado and not know it is there unless someone Tweets them the news. Lack of business etiquette training and an obsession with social media and techno-relationships has left us an oblivious mass of earphone wearing natives that have thrust themselves back into the stone age with the technology of the future.

Would I ever hire that waitress? Those school teachers? The girl at the gas station? Nope.

Here is a word for our younger generation… Don't die before you have to.  Don't start out this way.

Preparedness is a lifestyle, not a concept or even a philosophy. To excel in this field, there is an incredible awareness you must possess to effectively plan, study and respond. This awareness will come from paying attention to not only your immediate surroundings but to the global environment. You will never make it staring at a small screen in the palm of your hand every waking hour.

Read all you can. Watch all you can. Ask questions (in person) and listen to the answers. Find the “old-timers” when you can and glean all you can as if stripping the meat off of bone; they hold the keys to wisdom.

Rely on your technology only as an assistant to the skills you are trying to acquire. Technology itself is not a skill. Learning, listening and paying attention are skills. I believe that this younger generation holds the ability to understand and develop the technology to do battle with climate change if that ability is coupled with old fashioned learning.

You see, the day we need these young minds the most, the technology won’t be there, only the results of what they created beforehand . This new generation needs to attack opportunity with a balanced focus in order to leave a legacy of success like no generation before it, but to do so, it will have to occasionally set down the Xbox controllers and smart phones long enough to learn how to function in the real world.

I am watching careers die before they even begin… as for me, I’ll prefer to die as late as I can.

New film touches crew before it is finished

When amateur filmmaker Ted Fillhart was asked to shoot a video on the effects of responder stress, he had no idea it would change his life.

“This film should change the way all of us look at our responders”, explained Fillhart.  It is not until you find yourself in their world that you realize how much they really sacrifice for each of us!”

“I always had an admiration of first responders. While filming "Return to the Station" my eyes were opened to a whole new world and now have a better understanding of what the men and women who are first responders go through”, said Fillhart. “ I spent some time at the Transformations Treatment Center too and it is an incredible place where these people can get help, support and take back their lives.”

The film Fillhart was to film was a unique 10 minute music video that portrays the life of one firefighter who collapses under the weight and horrors of his job.  The film, written by C4L & Associates founder Eddy Weiss shows one year in the life of a firefighter as he struggles with the pressures of his job, reaches rock bottom and then is picked up by those closest to him.  After undergoing treatment, the firefighter returns to the station.

The main character of the film is played by Weiss who shared, “Over and over we see these scenarios amongst responders but rarely do we get to see the whole progression and a solution all in 10 minutes. The purpose of this film was to create awareness amongst responders and those in their lives; to bring them hope.”

The “hope” Weiss refers to is the ending of the film when the main characters wife (played by Brittani Clarkson) calls the 1^st Responder Treatment Center in Southeastern Florida.  1^st Responder Treatment Founder Mark Lamplugh (who plays himself in the film) hopes that the film shows that the job of a firefighter is demanding and tough

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“The nature of the job makes it very easy for a firefighter to turn to drugs an alcohol,” Lamplugh explained.  “the film shows how hard it can be on the marriage as well. The whole worlds of a responder is incredibly demanding and not everyone copes with it the same.”

Lamplugh hopes that everyone walks away from viewing the film will understand there is a way out and that “…home life and work life can be normal again”.

Return To The Station is just the first of a series of short films Lamplugh plans to release in the next year.  Plans are underway to film again in early 2014.

According to Weiss, the trailer for Return To The Station has received amazing reviews and already the responder community has rallied behind the project.

“People are used to a three minute music video or a two hour movie,” said Weiss. “Return To The Station is a full two years crammed in 10 minutes. It was a difficult task to pull that off but people are responding to it very well.”

Fillhart summed up the film with this statement: “Unless you are actually inside a blazing fire, risking your life, or taking part of a dangerous situation you really don't know what it is like to be under that type of pressure.  However, I got a close glimpse of what goes on mentally and physically as I worked on this project by filming the scenes and watching hours of real life unedited helmet cam video footage.  Seeing first hand through the eyes of a firefighter really changed my perspective on what goes on in their lives and how it can affect their personal lives and health.”

“I hope people see the reality of what first responders go through.  Many times those first responders struggle with the sense they can't control their own personal issues because what they do for a job is so dependent in helping others.” 

Watch RETURN TO THE STATION by CLICKING HERE

You can find out more about the film at www.Reach4TheLight.com 

Music from the film was made possible by artists such as Kole Kruger, EverLife and Brian Houston. Soundtracks from the film can be downloaded on the Reach4TheLight website.