Because safety and transparency are critically important to our organization, we want to give an update on an incident that occurred this past weekend.  Early Saturday morning, an individual drove through the front windows of the Orofino Health Center lobby, then proceeded up to the Clearwater Valley Hospital and drove their pickup through the Emergency Department doors, then finally, backed into the Outpatient Services door. The police were called and were able to detain the driver who was then taken into custody. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Our maintenance staff was contacted and arrived to secure the entry points as quickly as possible.

 

The safety of our patients and staff is of the utmost priority. With the assistance of Kootenai Health we are working to complete a security assessment to see if there are additional measures we need to take during this time before we can get the entrances permanently fixed.  We also have an architect coming to ascertain if there is any structural damage.  We are working with local law enforcement to identify areas to reduce risk in the future and we are also working to get additional staff safety training through Kootenai Health.

 

Thank you to everyone who helped to resolve this situation as quickly as possible, including the Orofino Police Department and our outstanding CVH Maintenance crew.  Please know that our commitment to patient and staff safety is our top priority and that we are doing everything within our power to ensure we have both.