By Lori EhdeLuverne Community Hospital employees had a scare one day this spring when two strangers entered the facility unannounced and made themselves at home.One man draped a stethoscope around his neck and helped himself to the lab, the emergency room and other areas restricted only to hospital staff.The other man proceeded to wander around the pharmacy, the business office and areas where confidential patient information is filed.Several staff members, puzzled, asked if they could help, but he abruptly passed by them.Finally, R.N. Nyla Sandbulte approached one of the men and asked him to state his business.This was exactly what the men were waiting for.The men were identified as Mike Weiss, coordinator of education and training for Sioux Valley, and Paul McQuisten, Sioux Valley Security Officer.Their visit that day was a test — that most hospital and clinic staff failed miserably."We were too nice," said Mark Vanden Hoek, plant manager. "We were too nice and too naïve."Vanden Hoek is a member of the hospital’s Security Committee, formed in response to the nation’s terrorism alert since Sept. 11, 2001."Obviously that was a good lesson for us," said Hospital Administrator Jerry Carl.The hospital has always had guidelines dictating how unidentified hospital visitors are handled, but national terrorism alerts have forced staff to follow more rules and enforce them more strictly."It alerted our staff how very important it is for us to be vigilant in assessing everyone who enters the facility and what they’re here for," said R.N. Nancy Drenth, who works on the hospital’s compliance and risk management.Since that surprise visit, Weiss led all hospital employees through intense two-hour seminars. Much of that training involved basic self-defense demonstrations to possible attack scenarios.For example, he put employees in headlocks, grabbed them by their hair or wrists and screamed obscenities at them."I was pretty shocked, but it was very effective," Drenth said.In those scenarios, trainees were told to holler and scream at their assailants while defending themselves, and for a community of "Minnesota Nice" people, this was easier said then done."Eventually he got some of us to do it, but it took awhile," Drenth said.Because the majority of hospital employees are women, the training was geared toward them, but Vanden Hoek said it was effective for everyone."It was pretty intense," he said. "The point was to put across that this is serious stuff. You need to do what it takes to get out of the situation."Weiss said Luverne hospital, despite its performance during his sneak visit in April, is a model facility among the Sioux Valley network of hospitals."Luverne is our poster child," Weiss said. "Most hospital administrations aren’t so open about addressing shortcomings. It’s a superb hospital, and Diane Westenberg was excellent. She practically begged me to come out there. That’s extremely progressive."Luverne is the first in Sioux Valley’s network to complete Sioux Valley’s Security Awareness and Personal Safety Training Program, which started three months ago."Every hospital I’ve ever been to has the same security issues. Hospitals are open campuses, just like any Lewis Drug or other business," Weiss said."But how do you identify somebody doing something wrong or out of place? Luverne staff are now trained to specifically respond to a problem."Weiss said his training aims to encourage all hospital employees to think for themselves, rather than to rely on security officers to take over in emergencies."Instead of having two security officers at the door, we have 5,000 part-time security officers throughout the campus," Weiss said."Each employee is now safer. They won't panic, because they know what to do. … If you don’t know what to say or do, you can’t respond properly. The first mission in hospital work is to deliver health care. The second mission is to train those folks to deliver health care – and part of that mission is security."
