Law enforcement aids in preventing workplace violence

The Asante Workplace Violence Prevention program, composed of a multidisciplinary group of clinical and allied staff, is increasing the effectiveness of our partnership with local law enforcement.

This partnership was recently reinvigorated by a Law Enforcement Summit held at the ARRMC campus earlier this summer. It was attended by the Medford Police Department, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County jail team members alongside Asante leadership from Security, Emergency Department, Behavioral Health and Nursing.

Spearheaded by Julie Hale, director of Support Services, the goal was to build relationships with local law enforcement to help Asante prevent workplace violence.

The meeting started with a contextual discussion of the current level of workplace violence, staffing challenges and safety concerns at the hospital. Law enforcement representatives shared their current challenges with officer shortages and increased community needs. A list of considerations for follow-up included:

• Instituting a communication “chain of command” for Asante that establishes a single point of contact for law enforcement.
• Starting a consistent practice of bringing violent patients into the Emergency Department through a nonpublic back entrance to protect triage and waiting areas.
• Building and reinforcing guidelines when officers are on-site and need to fulfill their job duties within the criminal justice system.
• Building a consistent internal and law enforcement response when Asante employees are assaulted and need to access their right to report to police.

The group agreed that having a consistent road map using evidence-based approaches to partnership will be needed more than ever moving forward. To that end, there will be ongoing meetings with a more inclusive list of community stakeholders such as Josephine County partners, other municipal law enforcement agencies, local coordinated care organizations (CCOs), community mental health partners, and more.

The summit provided an opportunity to address previous grievances and make agreements for safe and accountable partnership moving forward. The next summit will be held later this fall. Asante’s Workplace Violence Prevention committee will keep you posted on updated processes.

Questions? Email WP*@As****.org.