The Initiator

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By ASHLEY ROE

OhioHealth Corp., established in 1891, consists of a family of not-for-profit, faith-based hospitals and healthcare organizations serving patients in Columbus and Central Ohio. With five hospitals and 20 additional ambulatory sites and surgical centers located throughout the region, organizational security, provided by the department of Protective Services, is a top concern. With 29 years of experience in healthcare security - 15 of which are with OhioHealth - Charles “Chuck” Smith, corporate director of Protective Services, has built a security department that is widely considered one of the premier security programs in the United States. This achievement, however, did not come without a bit of a struggle.

“The biggest challenge I find in my job today is getting bucks. In healthcare, our [security department] money can be used somewhere else, such as for doctor technologies,” Smith explains. “The product we are trying to sell is our service and our value, and often times, we have to fight for it.”

The struggles of Smith and his 83-person security team to convey their value and secure appropriate funds for new technologies and programs have resulted in numerous security initiatives that protect OhioHealth patients and staff members every day.

At Riverside Methodist Hospital and Grant Medical Center, for example, Smith's protective services team — comprised of officers, supervisors, dispatchers, investigators and administrators — installed metal detectors inside both emergency departments to detect weapons. In 2006, the equipment screened 399,242 visitors and successfully detected and removed 11,068 weapons at both hospitals.

After noticing an increase in suspicious activity on Riverside's maternity floor over the last seven years, OhioHealth Protective Services implemented an infant monitoring and alarm system. The system employs small transmitter devices applied to an infant's ankle to monitor his or her movement in the nursing unit round-the-clock. The transmitter signals an “exit” alarm in the event that someone attempts to take an infant out of the nursing unit. The system integrates with the hospitals' closed-circuit television (CCTV) security cameras installed in each maternity unit to give officers an instant view of any areas of concern. In 2006, 91 alarms were intercepted at Grant, 312 alarms at Riverside and six alarms at Doctor's Hospital.

Smith's team also installed an access control and alarm monitoring system from Matrix Systems, Dayton, Ohio, to monitor hospital access doors and alarm points in real-time. The Matrix Frontier Access Control and Alarm Monitoring System is also used for photo ID badging, ad-hoc reporting and is integrated with CCTV cameras. For remote alarm monitoring of offices and sites where the Matrix system is not used, protective services officers installed door contacts, motion detectors and panic alarms, monitored by a receiver from Silent Knight, Maple Grove, Minn., and managed through alarm monitoring software from Security Information Systems Inc., Orlando. In 2006, Protective Services officers monitored 2,970 Matrix alarms and 642 card readers. A combined estimated number of 18,700 ID badges were issued.

To keep staff members informed during an emergency, Smith's department deployed an emergency notification system from Twenty First Century Communications, Columbus. The Web-based system issues medical alerts and warnings, shares news and information and activates key staff members who are involved in emergency action plans when necessary. In addition, a series of panic alarms were installed throughout the hospitals and hospital grounds for use in the event of a sudden violent or life-threatening situation when there is no time for a victim or witness to call for security aid.

The communications system is supplemented by 177 intercom stations placed in strategic areas inside and around each hospital. The intercoms allow for direct voice communication with protective services officers and are used by staff and visitors during emergencies. In 2006, the protective services team answered a combined estimated total of more than a million radio, intercom and phone calls for assistance at Grant, Riverside and Doctors Hospitals.

Smith's team also evolved and expanded the OhioHealth's two formal command centers, located in the Riverside and Grant hospitals, to reflect the changing responsibilities of the officers and new technologies. The command centers are manned continuously and provide a multitude of services for the security department and OhioHealth such as handling routine security and emergency calls and dispatching officers. Officers in the command center also monitor and oversee the infant alarm systems, various burglary and panic alarms, hospital fire panels and radio traffic transmissions, whether routine or emergency communication.

In addition to rolling out new technologies, Smith has also implemented many community- and procedure-based programs designed to reduce criminal activity and increase safety and security in and out of the hospitals.

“One of the programs I am most proud of is our drug diversion program that is carried out in our investigation unit,” Smith says. The program aims to control access to narcotics and other medications and reduce any potential theft of medication by hospital staff. The department implemented a software program from Pandora Data Systems Inc., Santa Cruz, Calif., that interfaces with the healthcare system's existing Pyxis automated medication dispensing systems. The Pandora system generates reports that identify trends and increases in medication usage to alert investigators to any misconduct occurring in the practice of dispensing and handling medications.

Smith's department has also established a crime prevention and awareness program to educate staff members, customers, patients and their families about personal safety and security issues. Under Smith's leadership, a Lost-and-Found Property Database was created to manage missing and recovered property. The database has increased the hospitals' original return rate of property by 10 percent each month.

The list of Smith's various security initiatives and accomplishments at OhioHealth continues. However, with each new technology and procedure implemented, Smith's philosophy of effective security remains the same. “I would be foolish to say that because we have all of these technologies for our protection that an incident would never happen,” he says. “We can't prevent it, but we can anticipate it and prepare ourselves. That is why training is so important.” Protective services officers are trained annually in topics such as non-violent crisis intervention, domestic violence, evidence collection, compliance issues and more. More than half of the officers and dispatchers are also certified by the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy (OPOTA).

A former Marine and Vietnam War veteran, Smith says his years in the military taught him to react to life-and-death situations quickly, skills that may be key to intercepting and resolving security incidents. Smith served as the local ASIS chapter chairperson in 2003 and 2004 and as president of the Ohio Society for Hospital Security Administrators from 1984 to 1987, where he helped get a legislative bill passed that allowed hospitals to possess their own police force.

In the future, Smith plans to create and implement a “super command center,” combining the healthcare system's two command centers and to continue improving and implementing security procedures to keep patients and staff safe. “I think every security director needs to have communication skills, listening skills and good negotiation skills,” he says. “And on top of that, you have to be able to speak tactfully, and, sometimes, say no.”

Smith has been married for 38 years to his wife Shirley. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf, restoring old cars and riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle.

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