Compass adds security to hospital campus

MARENGO — Adding security personnel is something Compass Memorial Healthcare has looked at for a long time, said Chief Executive Officer Barry Goettsch, so he’s happy to finally have a plan in place.

Compass will partner with Iowa County and the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office to provide a law enforcement presence on the hospital campus.

Goettsch said he doesn’t want team members or patients or visitors to have to put up with vulgarity, hostility, intimidation or physical or verbal abuse. As the hospital has grown and patient numbers have increased, such incidents have increased as well, he said.

Law enforcement agencies — city and county — have always been responsive to calls from the hospital, said Goettsch, but they’re busy. Hospital officials like the idea of having someone on site to deal with adverse situations as they arise.

“Our team members are here to provide care,” said Goettsh. They shouldn’t have to worry about getting a nose broken or dealing with something thrown down the hallway because a patient or family member is upset.

Goettsch doesn’t want violence to be part of patients’ and visitors’ experiences at Compass. The presence of deputies at the hospital will send a message that Compass is serious about maintaining order and making the hospital a great place to receive health care, he said.

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Compass isn’t a large hospital, as is the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, said Goettsch, “but a person lays a hand on one of our team members … that’s one too many.”

Compass considered private security, but it didn’t seem to get the hospital where it wanted to go, said Goettsch.

With Iowa County deputies, the hospital will have people with the training to act in a specific way according to a specific training. That’s what hospital officials want.

Hospital staff is trained to provide health care, said Goettsch. They aren’t trained to confront people who are being abusive or people who aren’t following hospital rules, such as not bringing firearms — even guns that are legally carried — into the hospital.

Deputies will start by covering the Compass campus during evening and overnight hours seven days a week. “That’s when we’re most vulnerable,” said Goettsch.

As the hospital continues to grow it will look at expanding security to daytime hours, said Goettsch. “The goal would be to evolve into full time.”

Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter will be hiring new deputies to cover the position. The positions will be offered to existing deputies first, he told the Iowa County Board of Supervisors earlier this month.

If current deputies accept the hospital position, Rotter will hire deputies to replace them.

The hospital positions will be assigned to specific officers, said Rotter. It won’t be part of the rotation for general deputies.

According to the 28E agreement between the county and Compass, deputies will conduct hourly rounds inside and outside, confront individuals who don’t belong on the hospital’s campus after hours, escort hospital personnel to and from their vehicles as requested, assist in medical emergencies within their scope of training and assist hospital personnel who are interacting with difficult patients or visitors.

The county doesn’t have a lot of calls for service at the hospital, said Rotter, but this move will remove those calls from the workload of the Sheriff’s Department.

The position is similar to a school resource officer but in hospital, Rotter said. The situation is good for public relations because the deputies will be helping people a majority of the time rather than enforcing law, he said.

And the presences of deputies could deter criminal behavior, he said.

Goettsch echoed Rotter in saying he hopes the presence of law enforcement will be a deterrent to criminal behavior. He hopes the new position will be a boring one.

“This was a big step for us,” said Goettsch.