Powell Valley Healthcare implemented a new security system last month, which limits public access to main entrances and locks all doors at night.

The change affects the care center, The Heartland, hospital, clinic, and emergency department.

Previously, most external doors on the PVHC campus could be accessed by anyone at any time. Now, side entrances require an employee key card to access, and main entrance doors are on a timer that locks the doors automatically in the evenings.

Scott Shopa, director of facility management for Powell Valley Healthcare, said PVHC has been planning to implement the system for a few years.

“It’s an enhancement for our patients and staff,” Shopa explained. “We have people here all the time and we don’t have a full-time professional security force available.”

While it may be inconvenient for people to now have to use the main entrances, Shopa said PVHC was well behind the times having such unfettered access at all hours. Modern hospitals have controlled, electronic access, and healthcare facilities in Greybull, Lovell, and Cody have had similar access restrictions for some time.

“The other hospitals in the area were way of ahead of us on this,” he said.

Two incidents earlier this year wouldn’t have happened if the system had been in place, Shopa pointed out. One occurred in January when an intoxicated man who was not a patient entered the hospital, threatened a nurse with an IV stand and briefly barricaded himself in a patient’s room before being subdued by police. A couple months later, a suspicious man entered the hospital around midnight and was “messing” with Bibles in the lobby of the pathology lab. Hospital staff called police and the intruder fled. Fortunately, no patients or staff were injured in either incident.

Not only do the main entrances lock automatically on a timer, the whole system can be locked down from a central location should there be a serious incident in which all public access needed to be restricted.

Originally, the funding was going to come out of the Powell Hospital District’s capital improvement budget, but in January, the hospital was awarded a $67,817 mineral royalty grant from the Office of State Lands and Investments; that covered half the system, with the hospital district paying the rest.

Powell Valley Hospital’s main entrance is open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. The care center main entrance is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The clinic main entrance is open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekends. The Heartland’s entrance is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.