Clete Bordeaux, Director of Healthcare Business Development for HID, and Lauris V. Freidenfelds, Vice President Security Risk Consulting at Telgian Engineering, discuss enhancing security in hospitals by managing visitor traffic with advanced software tools.
Clete Bordeaux, Director of Healthcare Business Development for HID, and Lauris V. Freidenfelds, Vice President Security Risk Consulting at Telgian Engineering, discuss enhancing security in hospitals by managing visitor traffic with advanced software tools.
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Speaker 2:All right, good afternoon. Good afternoon. I am Clete Bordeaux. Um, and it's gonna be awkward that I read words about myself. But<laugh>, I have over 25 years of experience in electronics and security industry. I am a Marine Corp veteran, and my current passion and what, uh, my friend here may have heard me say before I is, um, healthcare protection of healthcare workers. Um, and then my partner here today is, uh, friend for several years, Mr. Lawrence Friedfeld. Uh, hopefully I got that right. Uh, vice president of Security Risk Consulting at Telian Engineering. Why did I want to talk to LA today? LA has law enforcement experience. He has higher ed experience, he has healthcare experience in a major metro area. Um, a new term I learned. He has tall urban building experience, uh, when it comes to, um, security matters. Um, and then now again, like I said, he is security risk consultant. So he's seeing both sides of the fence. He's, he's implemented and now he's out and talking and, and hearing what's new, what are new concerns, and that's exactly, uh, what I wanna talk to him about today. Thank you, Mr. Loris. And welcome.
Speaker 3:Great to be here with you Clete.
Speaker 2:Um, so this is gonna be tough for us because we are both passionate about this. Um, yeah. This topic, Loris something to share that you may not be aware. Um, I am that much more passionate about it because my daughter is now doing an internship at a hospital in Louisiana.
Speaker 3:Oh, hey.
Speaker 2:Uh, what do you think I asked her?<laugh>. Yeah,<laugh>,
Speaker 3:How secure is your facility? Exactly. How safe is it? Yeah,
Speaker 2:Exactly. And I asked her, I said, up on the units, are you seeing people wear badges, paint? And she's like, no, dad, they're not. And I'm like, I'm not okay with that. I, I'm
Speaker 3:Not,
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am not okay with that. So, in addition to my significant other, uh, being in healthcare now, my daughter is doing an internship. So, so both, uh, of these people very near and dear to me in the hospital. So, again, very passionate. And we already know why it's passionate to Loris. Um, and so let's jump into it. And again, it'll be hard for us to stick to 10 minutes with this lo I get it. I, but I know, I know. Um, what I want to throw to you first right away. Um, you know, again, thinking of my daughter there, my significant other, why is managing traffic important in a hospital from your perspective?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's, you know, I, I share your passion because I have witnessed, I've seen the great, uh, uh, work being done by nurses and doctors and staff that you know, that they are just so compassionate with patients and so, so caring that you want to support them and being able to do what they're doing without any fear. Um, it's a different world now. Today, Clete, um, people react more emotionally. People, uh, are more apt to, uh, step over the line towards violence than ever before. And, um, I think what we're working on is, is the, the concept in healthcare was an open and inviting environment. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, that's how most nurses and, and executive leaders with a little bit of gray hair, uh, remember, uh, the, the world. But, but it's changed now. And I think that I've always liked to have this caveat. It's an open and inviting environment for those who belong. Um, and we, we look at the people that are coming into healthcare institutions, and, and I, I used to just say, you know, we, we, we can, uh, we control the, the, uh, the people who visit a office building tighter than we<laugh>, uh, control the visitors going into a healthcare institution. And when you start to listen to the nurses, the staff, the doctors, they're afraid of the people that they don't know anything about. Uh, they don't know if anybody has, uh, vetted that that person belongs there. Um, we've had, uh,<laugh> when I worked at, at Rush, uh, I was back in the healthcare environment, um, after being a consultant for a long time, and now surprised they're career criminals who love to just simply, uh, you know, hit upon the healthcare institution. They go back all the way. When I started, people when I was a security officer are still actively, uh, uh, trying to get into hospitals and, and, and do bad things. So, uh, when, when, when we talk to staff, they wanna feel safe mm-hmm.<affirmative> and the, they wanna see us security professionals doing what we have to do to ensure that only the right people come up and visit them at, uh, and, and, and see the, the, the, the patients and, and, and staff, uh, uh, and staff. Um, you know, it's, it's, it just is scary when you start to not know who's walking around kind of a thing. And, and so I think that's the visitor traffic management, uh, it meant traffic, uh, or, or just access in general has to be managed so that the staff know we've got a safe environment.
Speaker 2:You, you know what? You, you brought up a good point that we probably haven't touched on in a long time, because precedence, but when you're talking about, I mean, this used to be years ago, probably in our conversations, it used to be part of the conversation to talk about, um, let's limit the number of people in the building because I have$10,000 infusion pumps disappearing. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I don't really have that kind of conversation anymore. And you brought up a great point. When you talk about a career criminal that's absolutely looking for$10,000 infusion pumps. Yeah. Man. Um, you know, the conversation kind of changed because we, we, we shifted to, um, infectious disease control and some, some of these other things. But that's a great point that I have not personally focused on very much. And, and, and it's because I'm responding to the industry, the industry doesn't give me much. So that, that's great to hear. I fully agree. Um, what comes with that is not only are you keeping them safe, not only are you, um, managing infectious disease control, but you're also limiting hospital loss. Um, I heard some staggering numbers and I, again, I shifted my focus to respond to the industry, but that's where I used to live and, and, and talk about reducing that loss. There is a staggering number, um, that was given to me about what the average hospital loses in hardware per year. Yeah. Um, so that, that'd be something good to, to try to find again. Um, sure.
Speaker 3:I, I, I, and you know, it's, it's, it's, it's property is one thing, but, but, you know, as, as I was, was back in the healthcare industry, I started recognizing that property was secondary to the, uh, the, the types of, of people that they were afraid of, uh, the staff were afraid of. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, you know, there are people who belong in a hospital, you know, family members, um, who should normally be there, but when they start to act out, they want to tell them that, you know, there is a line that cannot be crossed. And if you cross that, we have to limit your, uh, access to staff as well as patients. And that limit, if that's crossed, they wanna make sure that that person doesn't get back in the next day. Yes. And so we have to manage, how do we control, uh, the, the, the visitor restrictions and, and on, on people, uh, without some sort of system, without a, uh, uh, a technology, these people will come back next day and continue that bad, uh, bad behavior.
Speaker 2:Um, another one for you, uh, I've heard it a couple times, thankfully, I don't hear it often, but I, I wanna get your perspective. I wanna see, you know, when you're out and about, about, uh, uh, doing your analysis, the, do you feel that covid is over? There's no need to ma you know, we had to, by compliance and infectious disease control, you know, over these last two, two and a half years, we had to manage number of people in there. Covid o's gone. We don't have to do it anymore. I don't know if I have an appropriate response to that, but, you know, when you're out and about giving your expertise, one, are you hearing it? Two, how do you respond?
Speaker 3:So there are some, uh, people who feel like this whole tighter security, tighter, uh, visitor management was just for covid purposes. Um, it, it was a phenomenal, I hate to say that, uh, kind of advantage for security people to have this situation in be introduced in the world so that they can, uh, change the culture change mm-hmm.<affirmative> the, the path into a healthcare institution. Uh, but yes, there are people who say, well, this was just, was just for, uh, for covid. Actually, if you ask them to dig a little deeper, you'll find that the staff that are upstairs, like your niece and your and your loved ones, they say, no, no, this, this was helpful not only from a covid infection control perspective, but it helped us control, you know, the environment that we work in mm-hmm.<affirmative> and, and from a standpoint of criminal activity and, and things of that nature. And, and I have found that people who are actually listening to the rank and file staff, uh, are finding out that they want that the, the restrictions that were introduced to stay in, in place, um, and, and we're thankful that this nasty covid, uh, was the reason that they were introduced. But it's not because of just of covid. It's because it now is a better way of, uh, running the hospital.
Speaker 2:Um, is there any, uh, you know, it's hard to come by, but our, you know, if someone is, is, is enlisting your services and they are asking for reports and help with, um, you know, trying to tell senior leadership why we would still need it. Like, what, what would you point to? Would you point to, you know, what data points do you use? What, what would you point to?
Speaker 3:So it, um, it, it, security's an interesting thing. It's, it's, it, it, it's hard to prove the negative that you prevented something<laugh>, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's always, you know, it's, it's hard to do that. So
Speaker 2:I, it's hard to quantify the risk. It's hard to quantify what didn't actually happen,
Speaker 3:What didn't happen because of the security. Um, where, where I, I went and I asked for, in, uh, information about patient satisfaction as well as staff engagement scores. Uh, every healthcare institution, not every most are, are taking the pulse of their staff and are trying to understand what is it that affects them and, and what helps them become more mm-hmm.<affirmative> efficient and more productive. And it's an engagement concept, and it means the more you're engaged, the more productive you are. And so when they look at the things that impair engagement, safety is one of the bigger ones.
Speaker 2:Great point. Great point.
Speaker 3:Great point.
Speaker 2:I did not
Speaker 3:Thinking that when they, when they, when they, uh, uh, uh, uh, do the surveys, you wanna take a look at that engagement score showing improvement in their, uh, in their response to how do I feel from a safety perspective in that institution?
Speaker 2:So that's what you would tie together. Yeah. If someone says, if you are doing a risk assessment, someone says, um, you know, just, just worry about cameras. I don't wanna manage the people coming in and out because Covid is over. You'd ask to see surveys and try to link those two together.
Speaker 3:Hundred percent. Hundred percent.
Speaker 2:That's exactly why you're here.<laugh>.
Speaker 3:Well, it's, it's, you know, I, I learned that, that, you know, when I started talking to staff, they didn't want more cameras. They didn't want more card readers. They just wanted to feel safe. And, um, I had to be very transparent. My communications with them that helped, listen, if it happened, it happened. And I tell you it happened. Um, and here's what we're doing to prevent that from happening. And that people trusted me to tell them the truth. Uh, and they told me, you know, what they felt. And in the end it was, it was that psychological feeling of safety that everybody yearned for, and they didn't care how I did it. They just wanted to make sure that I did the best job I could to make it happen.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, and so as we're talking about, that's a perfect segue into this third point I want for you. Um, and, and this one, um, this one definitely opened my eyes today. Uh, I just learned it today. Industry veteran, uh, Paul Sarine out of Jersey, you know, former I H Ss president, I'm sure you bumped into him in the past, but he shared a, a report today. Um, so, so like you're talking about Lauras, the easy one is to go and grab, um, go and grab employee surveys, employee engagement, things like that. This report that he shares that was talking about top 10 patient safety concerns, this was by the patient themselves. So it's not just, you know, to my great surprise, it's not just a actual employee concern. The patients that go to these facilities are also concerned about the healthcare staff. So out of the 10, they ranked physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff. They ranked that number two above like their own medication errors among their own, uh, delayed identification of sepsis, you know, all these things that would personally affect them. They ranked number two as physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff. Like that totally me off guard. So I, I wanna get your perspective on that one. Well,
Speaker 3:It, it, it just warms my heart because I'm more of that emotional type of person as opposed to a statistics type person. And I feel, when I, when I talked to patients, and that was the one thing I enjoyed at, at my level, uh, at the hospital, is I engaged with patients, I engage with staff, I engage with visitors. The patients look at, uh, our staff, the nurses in particular as they're guardian angels. And if you mess with my guardian angel, I get upset because they can do all the things that they have to. But, uh, if you, if you start to, uh, yell at them and scream at them, uh, you, you're yelling at my guardian angel that, and that's emotional.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. The connect the actual connection between your clinical care team. Yeah. Um, you know what, and you know what, that's probably, you know, cuz I, I don't know. And I'm looking at this like, wow, that's amazing. And I, I love it. Just like you, that's just one more feather in the cap to push this point forward of, of how important this is on both sides of the fence. But to your point now, Laura, I'm looking at number four. Number four on this list, and then I'll send it to you. But the number four is, um, the impact on clinicians when they're working outside of their scope and their competency. So, um, you know, obviously that's a personal impact, but then again, to your point, like that's, that's worrying about their care team and, and what it means for their care team to maybe be doing things they are comfortable with, et cetera. Yeah,
Speaker 3:Yeah. They, they,
Speaker 2:That's a great point.
Speaker 3:They are so dependent upon that staff member and you want that staff member to, to be able to do their best job in helping me get better. Yes. And that's what they want.
Speaker 2:Yes. That, uh, I, I, I agree. That's great perspective, um, that you would probably only get from being in the walls of the hospital. Um, last one for you, and, and I'm always interested in this cuz you're out and about talking to the people, um, emerging trends, um, I won't just say visitor management, just, just emerging trends in, uh, traffic control, let's say that Yeah. Hospital traffic control. So some of the things you and I personally have discussed over the years, we've talked about, um, bringing in optical barriers, a k a TE styles. I got several hospitals doing it now. I'm sure you do too. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, we have talked about, um, uh, secure elevators. That's, that's a, a pretty new concept in healthcare now. I've bumped into it a couple times. So, um, you know, tell me what's, what's, what's new stuff you're hearing? What are some new ideas people may have or maybe even some of the things that you're coming across to recommend, um, you know, to, to, to, to help with traffic control in, in hospital? Well,
Speaker 3:Yeah. I, I think that, you know, uh, again, security's gotta be a balance. If you wanna be safe, it feels safe, but you don't wanna have to go through, uh, you know, a a a a, uh, a hard turn stock just to get in kind of a thing. So, you know, the optical turnstiles, which is a lane, you walk through a lane and, and you present your card, that kind of a thing. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, that's a, uh, a trend that we're starting to see because, uh, you know, looking at an ID card by a sec, uh, when a security officer looks at an ID card, that's not exactly the most deficient or effective, uh, way of, of determining whether that person belongs. Cause sometimes that's three, four feet away, you don't know even if it's the right or actual, uh, uh, access card that they need to be entering. So if you put that, you know, a visual isn't as effective as, as having that credential quickly and efficiently read and verified that it's still active. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, so I, yeah, the turnstile thing is, is key. The other thing is, is combining in, in all of this, and, and I said earlier, you know, we wanna make sure that healthcare institutions are open, inviting for those people who belong, but also exclude those that, uh, are bringing in weapons or dangerous, uh, devices. Yes. Um, and so we're seeing, uh, again, you have to balance it, uh, but we're seeing the technology for weapons detection starting to get implemented, and you wanted to look at it from a holistic perspective, make it, uh, you know, effective that it's not going to just, uh, uh, alarm every time when someone walks in with a, a set of keys in their pocket, you want weapons detected, you want knives and guns and things of that nature detected. So we're looking at how do we enter a facility in the healthcare world where you screen for the, those kind of things you screen to make sure that they are, um, authorized to come into the building, but secondly, they're also not bringing anything in that's going to be a danger to the staff and, and patients. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Um,
Speaker 3:Those are the two key areas that I see, uh, growing. Uh, in, in, in healthcare.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you probably have weapons conversations all the time because I, I hear about them on, on my side of the fence, but, you know, I'm doing a, a site visit or something like that, and I also just quite honestly hear about the effectiveness of it. Uh, um, you know, one of my other security directors, he pulled tens, tens of thousands of items in 2021 Yeah. With a simple metal detector, not the more advanced stuff that I'm sure. Mm-hmm. You get a chance to work with a simple metal detector. Yeah. He got tens of thousands of items, um, in 2021 alone. Yeah. So I, I'm sure that's one of the things.
Speaker 3:It's, it's, uh, it, it, it sometimes you have some innocent, you know, mistakes, you know mm-hmm.<affirmative>, oh, you know, I, I, you know, I'm a, uh, you know, I'm more of a rural kind of a person. I always carry a knife and stuff like that with me. Well, yeah. Yeah. But not in, in the healthcare institution. Okay. Uh, could be an honest mistake. Um, you know, there are people who, but unfortunately are, are, are, you know, going to try to bring weapons in. Um, we have had a number of, of, of situations where people have ended up bringing in weapons because they carried them legally or illegally<laugh> on the street mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And we don't want those things, you know, in the media of, of a healthcare institution. So, uh, you know, we, we, we wanna screen against those kind of things. Um, I think it's a, it's, you know, it's a's a different world, as I said earlier. And, uh, we're having to ju adjust to what, uh, what, what kinds of things are happening outside. Uh, so, and, and try to keep them from getting, uh, into the institutions.
Speaker 2:Understand. Um, that was the last one for me. As I said, this would be, uh, we would have to contain ourselves. We had to limit the number, remember
Speaker 3:Autopsy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, we have<laugh> and we have, we've a long talk. Um, as always, I appreciate your, your honesty. I appreciate your input and your industry expertise. Um, and, uh, I would love to get you down to Louisiana so you can help protect my baby. I'd
Speaker 3:Love to be there to help,
Speaker 2:Help protect my baby down there. Do uh, you know, maybe you can convince them that the people should be wearing badges down there at, uh, I won't even say the name of her hospital. I don't know how how big this will be,<laugh>.
Speaker 3:Well, it, it's a, it's a long process and, and it is. It's gonna gonna be, take one of small steps and we're all gonna have to adjust slowly but surely. But you know what, we're getting there. I think we're getting there.
Speaker 2:I agree. I agree as always. Thank you very much!
Speaker 3:Great. Great talking to you
Speaker 2:You. Yes, sir.