TAPPAHANNOCK, Va. – June is National Safety Month and June 7 marked #HAVhope, an effort that unites hospitals, health systems, nurses, doctors, healthcare professionals and individuals from communities across the country in sharing their commitment to ending violence.

Violence is one of the nation’s major public health and safety issues, both in our communities and workplaces. Hospitals and health system team members are vulnerable when dealing with sensitive situations when caring for patients.

To mark the occasion, VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital hosted a seminar with team members on Friday.

Hospital leadership also took stock of its efforts over the past year to enhance Violence Prevention strategies.

The hospital implemented a weapons detection in November of 2023. In that time, they have completed 83,328 screenings (at the Emergency and front entrances) and prevented the following items from entering the hospital:

  • 9 guns
  • 136 knives
  • 6 tasers
  • 24 other

In addition, the hospital expanded badge access throughout the facility and restricted entry from external doors to only the main lobby and Emergency Department, with additional badge entry requirements at the doors that allow access to the facility from the lobby. The hospital has invested in improved surveillance cameras and enhanced our systems, which will go live in the next several weeks.

VCU Police are onsite with the addition of Sgt. Caroline Bowen, as the hospital works toward 24/7 presence over the coming few months. Their partnership with local town, county and state police leadership is strong.

VCU Health Tappahannock Hospital is also training its team members on de-escalation skills and making improvements to the reporting of verbal and physical assault incidents so that they can be appropriately documented and handled. There are also expanded resources being made available for team members who more frequently experience potential incidences of violence in the care setting.

The hospital has also introduced a Workplace Violence Committee to better advise on what our additional and future strategies to keep the workplace safe.

“These collective efforts help to ensure that our patients and team members are kept safe while in the hospital,” explains Liz Martin. “We’ve long focused on patient safety in the clinical sense. Our violence prevention efforts are an extension of our mission to provide the very best (and safest) care to the community.”