Erlanger employees protest disarming security guards

Erlanger Hospital

As Erlanger Health System announces plans to disarm its security guards in the coming weeks, hospital employees are circulating a petition to protest the decision, saying it will compromise their safety.

Hospital officials say the plan is part of an effort to provide a more "family-friendly" environment.

But hospital staff members say they worry the changes will have the opposite effect - making the hospital less secure.

"If we need to adjust our security in any way, it should be to increase it," the petition says. "As of now, we're already in an unsafe working environment."

The pending changes draw even more concern, they say, in light of an incident last month when several fights broke out between a crowd of about 40 outside of the hospital and police after a shooting victim was brought to the hospital. The petition states that the hospital is frequently put on lockdown because of emergency incidents.

Hospital staff members have also been on edge with a recent report of an assault in the hospital's parking garage. While the investigation into exactly what occurred is ongoing, requests for security escorts to and from their cars have spiked, staff members say.

"If we are unarmed I do not feel safe working at the hospital," said a current security guard at Erlanger, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We get calls every night to assist with combative patients," the guard said. "I never realized before working at a hospital how violent patients are toward doctors and nurses."

The hospital contracts with Walden Security for security, while a small number of off-duty Hamilton County deputies are also onsite. But the contract Walden Security has been put out for bid, and a new security contract is expected to be awarded next month.

In a memo sent to hospital employees today by hospital CEO Kevin Spiegel, he said the newly-unarmed security guards will be wearing blazers, while armed officers will still be "located in strategic locations."

"We will also be contracting directly with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department and discussing similar agreements with the Chattanooga Police Department, which eliminates payment to a middleman," he said.

Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press.