Law enforcement and security officers aren’t the only folks on campus working to keep their facilities safe. Clinicians and other staff members contribute too.

A great example of this is Temple University Hospital Charge Nurse Maribel Garay and Transportation Department employee Angel Marren. Wes Light, who is the hospital’s manager of emergency preparedness, nominated the pair for putting out a fire in a patient’s room.

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The incident occurred on Aug. 21, 2015 at about 11:30 p.m. when a patient in a double room set his mattress on fire and then walked out of the room.

Garay smelled the smoke and inspected the room to find both mattresses on fire. Immediately, she alerted co-workers that there was a fire on the floor and instructed someone to call the emergency phone line. Garay also immediately turned off oxygen to the unit. Both she and Marren went back to the room and extinguished both fires with a fire extinguisher.

After the fire was extinguished, a lighter was found under the patient’s mattress. Five other patients who were in close proximity were temporarily relocated, and all patients were safely guarded in the process, so there were no patient injuries. The “Code Red” was cleared by the fire marshal and patients were relocated back to their rooms.

The patient who started the fires was transferred to a single room, and a patient care assistant was stationed in his room so the patient could be closely monitored.

Way to go Maribel and Angel!

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