The Trainer

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ashley Roe

As the director of safety and security for Broadway House for Continuing Care (BHCC), Nicholas Nilio believes that every BHCC employee contributes to the facility's security goal. From the nurses to the counselors and the security officers, each one of BHCC's 159-person staff has a responsibility to become “eyes” and “ears” within the 78-bed HIV/AIDS care facility.

Situated in the heart of Newark, N.J., in an area that is struggling against violence and drug crimes, BHCC (broadwayhouse.org) is New Jersey's only specialized long-term care facility for people living with HIV and AIDS. Its mission is to provide residents with the medical, social and psychological support and encouragement necessary to adjust to the effects of AIDS and, eventually, to return to life in the community. “The majority of our residents have contracted the virus through substance abuse, and a lot of them arrive here substance-addicted,” Nilio explains. “That creates a unique challenge for security.”

Broadway House operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, with scheduled visiting hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The facility also hosts religious and family support group meetings, holds conferences with up to 150 attendees at a time and provides AIDS education to 1,000 Newark school children on a regular basis. With many visitors arriving and leaving, Nilio became determined to train every staff member to recognize potential security concerns.

When he arrived in December 2005, Nilio instituted training programs for all facility employees to address personal safety, mental health issues and violence de-escalation techniques, in addition to fire safety, emergency response. “My goal was to develop a more cohesive program and to make every employee a part of the puzzle,” he says. “Our security staff is limited, and if everyone knows what to do and has a role in emergency response, it increases cohesion and results in a more efficient and safe response.”

Some of the training programs he began are common to security departments in a range of markets beyond healthcare. Others are BHCC-specific. Take, for instance, learning popular drug lingo. Nilio has educated the center's staff to learn a repertoire of street narcotics terms so they will recognize the terms should they hear them being tossed around between residents and visitors in conversation. As an example, Nilio explains, a nurse might overhear the term “blue hawaiian,” an occasional street name for heroine, come up in a resident's conversation. “Through training, the staff is able to recognize the term and be aware of any drug-related situation that could occur,” he says.

Along with training BHCC staff, Nilio extended the training programs to include members of the facility's contract security services firm, Force One Security, Elizabeth, N.J., by providing education about HIV and AIDS. “It takes a special type of person to work at BHCC. Many of the residents here develop close bonds with staff members. Sometimes residents have limited contact or support from friends and family, and our staff becomes the ‘family’ they don't have. I want to ensure that all of our officers are fully-trained to be able to work in our facility, to interact with our residents and to handle situations safely and without hesitation,” he says. Community partnership between BHCC and local law enforcement, fire and emergency response organizations has also been high on Nilio's list of security program initiatives. “We cannot do this all on our own. We rely on outside resources for their help,” he says.

Nilio has established an agreement with nearby Emergency Medical Services at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) to provide support, radio communication and patient transfer services in the event of an emergency evacuation of the facility. BHCC participates in Newark's Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), a part of the Newark Office of Emergency Management, and is designated as an overflow site for UMDNJ patients in the event of an emergency. Through this partnership, Nilio has established a relationship with the various state, county and local agencies that enables BHCC security staff members to undergo training. Key members of the BHCC staff have also undergone Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, training funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and provided by the Newark Police Department.

Among BHCC security procedures, Nilio has redeveloped the facility Fire and Safety Emergency Preparedness Plan, which was reviewed and commended by the Newark Fire Department. Through an interoperability grant, Nilio outfitted the center with portable two-way radios supplied by Regional Communications Inc., Paramus, N.J., for staff communication with UMDNJ EMS dispatchers during an emergency.

Aside from establishing procedural security provisions, Nilio has found that there is a human side to his security strategy. One of his first security strategies was to get to know the residents of Broadway House - the people he has a responsibility to protect - personally. “It's a trust. I want to meet them and learn who they are. I want them to be comfortable coming to me to discuss any concerns they have,” he explains. “It also keeps me one step ahead of the game, because who better to be my source of information pertaining to security than our residents?”

Some of Nilio's future plans for BHCC include installing an electronic access control system and continuing to forge and foster community partnership to help the facility accomplish its mission.

Jeanine Reilly, BHCC executive director, commends Nilio and his work. “His energetic embrace of the challenging security and safety issues here have resulted in a safer healthcare environment and better services for our HIV/AIDS residents,” she says. “His excellent people skills, knowledge of urban street culture, administrative skills and technology expertise have all benefited our staff, residents and the many community members and professionals who make use of our facility.”

Prior to his position at BHCC, Nilio served as executive vice president for a private, multi-state 1,200-employee security company and as director of operations for another private security firm. He received his bachelor's degree in exercise science from Pennsylvania State University and decided to enter the law enforcement and security fields after befriending employees at the Newark Police Department. He lives in Belleville with his wife Gina and newborn son Nicholas.

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