OZH STAFF
The Thin BLUE LINE
BY DWAIN HEBDA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATTY INGALLS M
ost people do not come into the hospital thinking about the security mea- sures that are in place to
protect them, the staff and medical per- sonnel. R.D. Reid, Ozarks Healthcare's supervisor of security, communications and public safety, understands that fact to the point of being philosophical about it. “The security here, sometimes, is kind
of like an insurance policy to most folks,” he said. “People know we’re there, but they don’t have to use us a lot. But when they do need us, they are absolutely hap- py to have that insurance policy.” Reid manages a staff of seven securi-
ty officers, counting himself, which may sound like a lot until you think about the 1,300 employees, countless patients, hundreds of thousands of square feet and acres of parking lot to be secured, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Our primary task here at the hospi- tal is to ensure a safe environment for all of our coworkers, patients and visitors,” he said, adding many people would be surprised at the number of assaults that happen to healthcare workers on the job,
38 | OZARKS HEALTHCARE | WINTER 2021
particularly when dealing with patients who are under the influence. “When I was a younger law enforce- ment officer, the evil drug in our commu- nity was marijuana,” he said. “Then one day, a horse named methamphetamine rode into town. That in itself changed our community, changed law enforcement, changed a lot of things. When we admit somebody to the hospital who’s under the influence of methamphetamine, they’re absolutely dangerous at that time. “Then, if our doctors require that they
be here for two or three days to let meth- amphetamine run its course, they can end up being an unsettled patient for the hospital, the nursing staff, the security team and so on.” Reid drills his troops on the proper
way to assess and handle such situations, even to the point of taking a patrolling shift himself to keep abreast of current operations. He’s also advocated for new technology such as a forthcoming mass notification system called Rave. “We’ll utilize it to send out emergen-
cy codes whether it’s some type of fa- cility-wide response or a specific team
It’s important that our coworkers and patients are safe but also that they feel safe.
“ ”
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