VIPs on Campus: Guarding Congresswoman Giffords

According to TMC CEO Craig Cordola, his institution’s plan and its adaptability were two important keys to Giffords’ successful transition. He recommends that other hospitals treating high-profile patients identify beforehand appropriate entrances and routes that are secure and not accessible to the media or other visitors. Outside vendors should also be vetted by security. That being said, a campus should also be prepared for a quick change in strategy.

“You could lay out a game plan and it could be good, but somebody’s going to call an audible along the way,” he says. “You need to be confident so you can adjust to that effectively without impacting the patient or their family, and be able
to go on to the next destination. The medical team decided they wanted to go to imaging, so we had to prepare pretty quickly to secure imaging and make sure we could get there appropriately on the least visible route possible. We were able to modify that well because we had people with the patient who knew the facility. We had security with us that could call ahead and secure everything in advance.”

Family Opts for Transparency With Media, Public
Drastic changes in plans might not only be due to medical necessity, but also according to the wishes of the patients and their families. With Giffords, the Capitol Police initially provided Memorial Hermann with a plan that called for maximum secrecy.  

“We were going to have three helicopters that would land, but only one would be carrying her,” says Memorial Hermann Chief Facility Services Officer Marshall Heins. “Just before we were ready to implement all of those plans and she was scheduled to arrive, the family made a decision that they wanted the media to be more involved and they wanted to be more open with the general public about what was going on. That is really atypical in our experience for these types of situations, and so within a very short period of time, we had to completely change all of the plans.”

For example, Memorial Hermann and law enforcement officials allowed the public and media to know the route Giffords was taking. They allowed helicopters to fly over and follow the ambulances.

The openness and transparency to the media and public that Giffords’ family wanted was something very new for Memorial Hermann and posed a challenge for security.

“As a security professional, the less people know, the easier it is for us to manage the situation,” says Memorial Herman System Executive for Security Joe Bellino.

Additionally, with the bounty for a photo of Giffords running well into six figures, the temptation for the media, visitors and employees to violate her privacy was significant. To guard against this possibility, employees were prohibited from carrying cameras. Security also had to look closely at the hospital surroundings, such as rooftops and windows. To protect against unsanctioned photography, security used decoy rooms and obscured the windows where Giffords was being treated.

Access Control Safety Component Applied to Security
Visitor management and access control technologies were used at both Memorial TMC and TIRR Memorial Hermann, where Giffords was rehabilitated. The hospital was able to provide these security measures with little disruption to the other patients or their families.

“TIRR is more like a family environment, so we had to tweak things,” says Bellino. “We closed the perimeter down to two doors for the public. There is also a lot of access control because brain injury patients can wander. We don’t want them to get lost or go down a stairwell when they’re not ready for it. We were able to take the safety component of access control and apply it to security. It was a matter of reprogramming the system.”

Visitor passes were also needed. “We didn’t have to go out and spend a whole lot of money,” claims Bellino. “We kept it simple. We had a sign-in log, visitor pass book and all the passes were color coded with magic markers.”

Even something as simple as handling a package or piece of equipment had to be done carefully.

“We had some additional procedures for handling any mail or deliveries that were for her; any equipment or something that was made especially for her,” says TIRR Memorial Hermann CEO Carl Josehart. “It had to be handled in a special way to make sure that knowledge that it was going to get close to her didn’t create a security risk for her or the staff that was treating her.”

Hospital Security, Law Enforcement Partner Successfully
Like the University of Arizona Medical Center, TMC and TIRR Memorial Hermann campuses had a significant law enforcement presence during Giffords’ rehabilitation. In addition to the hospital’s sworn and nonsworn public safety staff, the Houston Police Department, the FBI, Capitol Police and even NASA security personnel were involved with the congresswoman’s security.

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