CAMPBELL RIVER, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada – Campbell River hospital is performing several upgrades to its security system, including new cameras, locks, private security, personal alarm systems and non-violent crisis training for staff and volunteers, all of which will be fully implemented by Oct. 1.
A telephone and internal lock was also installed in the volunteers’ storage room, creating a panic room where employees can retreat if they feel threatened.
The changes come several months after hospital volunteer Phyllis Hards, 78, was brutally beaten and murdered outside the gift shop by 26-year-old Dale Olvai Huttunen on April 28. Huttenen was charged with murder in the second degree, and is to be arraigned Sept. 25.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority plans to bolster security at all its facilities.
