Bonnie Michelman champions the cause of security at Massachusetts General Hospital

Sep 1, 2000 12:00 PM, JEANNE BONNER

Managing security for the 14,000 employees and 820-bed facility of Massachusetts General Hospital is like securing a small city. So says Bonnie Michelman, director of police, security and outside services at the Boston hospital. In addition to having large emergency care and ambulatory care units, Massachusetts General is also the teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. The hospital sees 35,000 inpatients annually, accommodates 1 million outpatient visits and has been rated as one of the best hospitals in America by U.S. News and World Report for six consecutive years.

In the nine years since Bonnie Michelman took over security, she has helped to orchestrate a revolution in security's role at the hospital. A significant part of that revolution has resulted from Michelman's penchant for educating the hospital's employees on the necessity of security. She has brought security to the forefront of the Massachusetts General Hospital agenda and vastly expanded the services her department offers, including badging, bike registration, fingerprinting and security travel advisories for employees going overseas.

Massachusetts General Hospital is part of the Partners Health organization which encompasses eight hospitals and many physician practices. It was founded in 1811 and is the third oldest general hospital in the United States. It has the largest hospital-based research program in the country. The hospital consists of four health centers located in Boston and its surrounding areas. Most of its active staff physicians are on the Harvard Medical School faculty. The majority of its 14,000 employees work at the main campus, and a few thousand work in various facilities outside the main campus.

Michelman graduated from college and was on her way to law school when she was offered a scholarship to Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice. At Northeastern, she was exposed to the security field for the first time and worked in domestic violence and juvenile delinquency. "I found the security industry fascinating, and I thought it was a high-growth field." She was a student member of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). When Michelman, a certified protection professional (CPP), takes office as president of the board of directors of ASIS in 2001, she will have come full circle.

When Bonnie Michelman took the job of director of security at Massachusetts General nine years ago, she found an antiquated security system, what Michelman refers to as "system technology from the 1800s." When she took over, her department was in bad shape: It was not integral to the organization and provided fewer services than it does today. Soon after she arrived, the department conducted a risk assessment and began to design and implement an integrated access control and security system. According to her staff, Michelman changed the perception of the department in the hospital. In the last seven years, the hospital has installed almost $4 million worth of integrated security system technology, which includes, among other components, CCTV, badging, access control, and panic alarms. It is one of the largest access control systems of any hospital in the country, says Michelman, who oversees nearly 200 employees.

When Michelman came to the hospital she was only in charge of security. She is now director of police, security and outside services, which includes the photography department and transportation. The photography department processes all medical photography for the hospital. Michelman supervises security managers, investigators, security officers and hospital ambassadors who act as concierges to visitors. As a manager, she is a mentor. "I try to develop and coach people in a fairly significant way. It is one of the things I enjoy most about being a manager." Focusing on training, she provides opportunities for her employees to increase their skills and instills value in the work they do.

"My first objective, after coming to the hospital, was to undo some of the problems in the department. I wanted to create an ability for the members of the department to feel they are valued and can be successful in their jobs. I do it by giving them appropriate skill-sets and training." Beyond training her staff, she has also retrained hospital employees on what they can expect from the security department.

On Michelman's watch, many hospital-wide task forces have been created, including a progressive interdisciplinary program that enlists employees in various divisions to tackle issues such as marketing, customer service, diversity and crime prevention. The group creates an operations improvement model for various areas. Michelman assisted in planning and implementing changes to the acute psychiatric care unit which has resulted in fewer patient restraints. She was instrumental in forming the security service focus groups, which meet quarterly to discuss security issues at the hospital. A survey to employees from 30 departments solicited their opinions on personal safety and security services at the hospital. Theft rates have decreased dramatically, and Michelman credits the security technology installed over the years.

One of her long-term goals is to help employees understand the value of integral security and to use all of the services offered by the security department. Over the years, Michelman has faced an uphill battle convincing hospital employees to be proactive about their own security. Specifically, she has had to educate researchers of the importance of following security procedures - they have everything to lose. "Several years ago, the researchers at a unit a few miles from the hospital resisted wearing badges," Michelman says. "Over time, I have educated them on what the risks are and why security benefits them. They must understand that 10 years of experiments can be sabotaged in an instant if they are not careful."

Michelman has been a part-time instructor at Northeastern University for 12 years. She teaches courses in security management and institutional security, lectures at university forums, and makes a special effort to recruit women and minorities to the security field. "Neither group has permeated the industry," Michelman says. When someone asks Bonnie Michelman what it has been like to be female in the still male-dominated security industry, she replies, "I hadn't noticed." She is a security consultant on an informal basis for all of the Partners Hospitals. She has devoted much of her spare time to association work and is past president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS). Michelman has volunteered for Big Brother/Big Sisters and the American Cancer Society.

A lover of the outdoors, Michelman enjoys tennis, hiking, and kayaking. She is an enthusiastic supporter of Boston's professional sports teams, except the Patriots. As a longtime Red Sox fan, she made a New Year's wish that the team would make it the World Series in 2000. Now she is not so sure. Michelman also enjoys going to the theatre.

Michelman's professional and personal goals are to increase security awareness and expose others to what good security management can accomplish: "We try to balance good technology, education, awareness and professional security staff to minimize any incidents that may occur." Michelman insists that her colleagues and staff have greatly contributed to her success. "I have surrounded myself with consummate professionals, and I love working with people."

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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