NCHS beefs up security

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 26, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Due to an increased potential for violence to occur at medical facilities, North Country Health Services is beefing up security at its hospital and rehabilitation center buildings.

Through a contractual agreement with NCHS, the Bemidji Police Department will soon add an officer who will spend 75 percent of the time patrolling North Country Regional Hospital and North Country Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

In the agreement, NCHS will pay for 75 percent of the position's salary, and in return the officer will patrol the grounds from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. during the hospital's busiest nights -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Police Department will pay the other 25 percent of the officer's salary, and will have the other 10 hours of the officer's time.

Working for NCHS, the officer will do vehicle and grounds patrol at the two facilities, will assure offices are locked after business hours and will even help control the emergency room and visitor lobbies if needed.

The program is scheduled to begin in late July or early August, but Bemidji Police Chief Bob Tell said it has not been decided whether the department will hire an additional person or spread the hours among current officers.

NCHS currently has a contract with a private agency for security and has for several years. Vice President of Nursing Joe Dahlby said Wednesday, but the Health Services' latest decision to hire a police officer is only one of several increased security precautions planned.

"It's not that we have a problem with the (current) agency. We just would like to step up the security coverage," Dahlby said. "We work closely with law enforcement a lot, and we wanted a closer tie-in with them."

Dahlby said increased security has been an issue for about a year, mostly because of the increasing size of its two complexes -- the hospital and rehabilitation center.

In addition to the police officer patrolling grounds, NCHS will be upgrading its closed-circuit surveillance camera system, providing non-violence intervention training and other security in-service meetings for employees and is considering changing some building employee entrances to identification card locks instead of traditional locks.

"We're obviously looking at security from a variety of perspectives," Dahlby said.

Many of the changes to be implemented were suggested by a Police Department audit conducted several months ago of NCHS' facilities.

"We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week with some sort of risk because of the nature of the business," Dahlby said. "Our building and grounds have grown a couple of times, and we felt we had to take a look at access to some of our buildings. We need to pay attention to the security needs of patients and staff."

Dahlby said medical facilities nationwide are facing increasingly dangerous situations, particularly in the emergency room because social problems are being carried into medical settings.

Tell, who is also the city's director of public safety, said NCHS and the Police Department will be meeting next week to finalize the agreement.

"I can't pinpoint any incident at the hospital (that triggered the new security precautions), but they're looking at incidents that have happened at other medical facilities across the country. They're in a prevention mode," Tell said. "I think their growth has brought about the increased need for security, but as a result of the contract, we'll be able to add an additional position."