By Robin Hattersley Gray

In early May, the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation (IAHSSFoundation) held its recognition dinner in conjunction with the 45th Annual General Membership Meeting and Seminar of the International Association of Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) at the Hilton Hotel in Myrtle Beach, S.C. During this program, the IAHSSFoundation recognized several individuals for exceptional contributions in the fields of healthcare security, safety and risk management. Honorees were selected after extensive vetting of nominees submitted in various award categories.

Denver Health Med. Center Officers Save Drowning Driver

The Medal of Merit is awarded to one or more individuals in a given year who distinguishes himself/herself in the performance of duty through an act of personal fortitude that is above and beyond the call of duty. This year, a team from Denver Health Medical Center was recognized with this signal honor. The honorees—who are employees of Healthcare Security Services (HSS) and contracted to Denver Health—are Security Officers Kristopher Stevenson, Brandon Skalak and Omar Salgado. The three were cited for their quick thinking, bravery and decisive actions in saving the life of a drowning motorist trapped in an upside down vehicle that had gone over an embankment into a river across from the hospital complex.

Without a thought for their own safety, the three Denver Health Medical Center colleagues plunged into the freezing river, extricated the unconscious driver by prying open the door and cutting away the seat belt in which he had become entangled, removed the victim to shore, and assisted Fire Recue in attending to him.  Without their quick and heroic response, the driver, who has since fully recovered, would have died before an emergency crew could arrive.

View our photo gallery of the winners!

According to staff members who nominated Stevenson, Skalak and Salgado, the quick and unselfish response of these security officers to an emergency situation turned what could have been a tragic accident into a heroic rescue. HSS Chief Operating Officer Tony York congratulated the three on saving a life: “I celebrate with you the joy of the successful outcome – you were in the right spot at the right time and demonstrated superb ‘best practices’ reactions to the crisis.”

Cambridge Health Alliance Officers Receive Diffuse Attempted Armed Robbery

A team from Cambridge Health Alliance also received a Medal of Merit for their bravery. Sergeant Hector Collozzo, Officer Glenton Smith and Officer Alyssa Roderick were cited for their quick response in defusing an attempted armed robbery at the hospital pharmacy.

Responding to a pharmacy panic call, the three officers arrived to find a suspect with a knife to his own throat, threatening to slit it if he was not provided with drugs. Upon the suspect’s refusal to obey the order to drop his weapon, Officer Roderick disarmed him by deploying her department-issued pepper spray. When the suspect continued to struggle and resist arrest, she and her colleagues successfully handcuffed and subdued him. He was taken to the emergency room for medical treatment for his self-inflicted wounds and subsequently charged.

According to colleagues who nominated Collozzo, Smith and Roderick, their actions to preserve the safety of hospital staff, patients and visitors were second to none. Their resolve and professional response to this potentially lethal incident did not waiver. Says Lieutenant Richard Rose, who investigated the incident for the hospital’s public safety department: “From the time of the first call until the subject was handcuffed spanned no more than three minutes. However, such a rapid disposition would not have been possible absent skill forged through years of training.”

Potter Receives Russell L. Colling Medal for Literary Achievement

In addition to officers being recognized for their heroics during incidents on campus, hospital security executives were also acknowledged for their leadership in the industry and IAHSS.

The Russell L. Colling Medal for Literary Achievement in 2012 was awarded to Anthony Potter, CHPA-F, who is Senior Director of Public Safety Administration of Novant Health in Winston-Salem, N.C.  Potter, who for years has viewed Colling as a personal mentor for him, has been instrumental during the past two decades in elevating the knowledge base and level of professionalism of healthcare security officers who work in the field today. 

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