Jefferson Regional Medical Center deploys Athena Security’s weapons detection system

Austin, TX, May 1, 2023 -- Athena Security today announces that Jefferson Regional Medical Center of southeast Arkansas is using its weapons detection system to bolster their holistic approach to proactively keeping healthcare workers and patients safe. A not-for-profit located on the Western ridge of the Arkansas Delta, Jefferson Regional is a 300-bed facility providing 11 counties with essential healthcare services for the last 100 years.

By adding Athena Security to enhance its safety profile, Jefferson Regional continues its strong history of leveraging state of the art technologies to best serve employees, patients, and visitors.

“Whether it's adding the daVinci surgical robot to improve patient care or the Athena Security weapons screening for added safety at both our main hospital entrance as well as the Emergency Department entrance at Jefferson Regional, we always try to do what is best for our community,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Austin.

“As we looked for an entryway security provider, we knew we needed to cover both entrances for comprehensive coverage.  The provider needed to be responsive, have personable service, and the ability to minimize risk at our facility. Athena was our number one choice.”

Over the years, Jefferson Regional has taken a proactive stance to securing its campus. Performing regular security assessments have led to holistic security changes, like the addition of security cameras, increased patrols, additional security vehicles, panic alarms, tasers instead of pepper spray, and active shooter training, all backed by a security staff with over 200 years of law enforcement expertise. Athena Security’s unobtrusive entryway system is located at the facility’s two public entryways: the main entrance and at the emergency room entryway.

Athena Security’s incident reporting software was another great feature for Jefferson Regional to have the tools to easily document and analyze all incidents at the facility. With the national rate of violence against healthcare workers 12 times higher than in the overall workforce, 85% of emergency room doctors state that violence is increasing (Sherwood, Arkansas hospital shooting last September, 45 minutes from Jefferson Regional). Incident reporting is a major upgrade to the existing manual system providing a data driven, evidence-based approach to reduce risks within the medical center.

Athena Security’s new visitor management system, first released at Jefferson Regional, will help with workflow and the security of patients and visitors checking in. This addition helps automate the security of the entryways by identifying minors, persons of interest, speeds the check-in process, limits visitors per room, and much more.