Lockdown tests OHH security protocols

Luck or amazing timing helped Olney Hamilton Hospital show off its latest security upgrades and emergency procedures to a visiting state hospital inspector last week when Olney police ordered the hospital to lock down while officers tracked down a fleeing assault suspect.

An inspector from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services happened to be at the hospital conducting a Life Safety Code Survey at OHH on April 19 when the lockdown order came, said William Dinwiddie, facility engineer for the Olney Hamilton Hospital District. The last such inspection happened three years ago, and the inspector happened to get a front-row seat to the months of training and preparation the hospital made for just such a situation, Mr. Dinwiddie said.

“We were walking through the hospital doing the inspection when the lockdown happened,” Mr. Dinwiddie said. “He told me to do what I needed to do and I locked down all of the exterior doors. He was pretty impressed with the overall operation of the hospital … everything went really smoothly. Everybody at the hospital did what they were supposed to do. I would say it was highly successful.”

OHH has been updating its security protocols and equipment for several months under the guidance of Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck with leftover federal COVID-19 funds, Mr. Dinwiddie said.

“We did a risk analysis of the building and we started looking at doors, cameras, panic buttons … to put the staff at ease and let them know we are prepared to handle any situation,” he said.

The hospital installed new steel interior doors and heavy-duty sliding glass doors at the exterior entrances with badge readers that can limit access to hospital staff. A new computerized security system can secure doors and disable badge readers within seconds of a lockdown order. The hospital also replaced its eight aging cameras with 36 new security cameras with 30-day playback and added panic buttons at the nurses’ station, emergency room, front entrance, clinic, and wellness center. New security doors in special areas, such as labor and delivery, surgery, and the pharmacy, require a badge to access, he said.

A video intercom system, which will allow nurses to buzz visitors into the hospital after hours – or keep them out – is the last phase of the security plan, Mr. Dinwiddie said.

Visitors to the emergency room in the past few months will notice two heavy sliding glass doors replacing the double wooden swinging doors. “[The old doors] were supposed to be secure but the hardware was so outdated that you could just push them open, and that was a problem,” he said. “Now you can’t get in there without a badge. So they have to go through admissions and be allowed into the ER.”

The public still can access the emergency room “247” but the new system will ensure that police arrive quickly if anyone gets unruly, he said. “We have had to use [the panic buttons] several times and it works awesome,” he said. “The police were here before I knew [staff] had pressed it.”

Chief Birbeck also conducted active shooter training with the hospital staff.

“It was kind of strange,” Mr. Dinwiddie said of the timing of the lockdown - OHH’s first. “They were prepared for it. In the last 15 days, we had reviewed all of our emergency preparation protocols … this was the perfect drill. It all worked perfectly.”