1 July 2023
NEWTON, Kan. (KSNW) – Newton police are now making rounds at the local hospital, NMC Health.
“It’s really wonderful to have Newton Police Department here in the facility,” said NMC Health President and CEO Vallerie Gleason. “What place in Newton is awake and alert and working and doing great things in the night shift, just like the police? Well, the hospital.”
NMC Health has not had any major incidents of violence in recent years. Hospital leaders hope to keep it that way.
“Suffice to say NMC Health and most hospitals across the country are working to ensure a hospital is a safe place to come when they are sick,” said Gleason. “Every hospital probably feels vulnerable, and staff in hospitals feel vulnerable. Some of the patients we treat have more aggressive tendencies.”
The program of putting HROs (Hospital Resource Officers) in the NMC Health facility has been in the works for four years. It’s a partnership between NMC Health and the City of Newton, and the Newton Police Department.
Gleason says they welcome the officer presence and have put in an officer hospitality room where officers can do paperwork.
“They may not be involved in direct patient care,” said Gleason. “But the fact that they are here and just looking out and standing by and available at a moment’s notice is very reassuring to our staff.”
Gleason says the program was moved forward by Newton Police Chief Craig Dunlavy. Officers patrol inside the NMC Health campus as well as the parking lots and areas surrounding the hospital complex.
While this is the first city and medical center in the state to have a partnership like this, Gleason says others may follow the concept.
“And from time to time, our staff feel threatened or sometimes intimidated by the very patients we are trying to help,” said Gleason. “Hospitals do many, many things that are known to the public and sometimes not known to the public to provide security and safety measures within the hospital.”
Every year NMC Health does a security and facility assessment. The program officially kicked off for the police partnership on March 16, 2022. So far, it’s been called a success.
“One of the features of our (Newton) recruited police officers is that they want to do community policing,” said Gleason. “This is a natural fit.”
Officers are doing rounds with an emphasis on 6:30 p.m. to the end of the morning shift.