TULSA, Okla. — $419,000 in grants will help provide security upgrades at Ascension St. John campuses in Tulsa, Bartlesville, and Broken Arrow.
“It’s great to be able to get that grant money,” said Darrel Long, Director of Security at Ascension Oklahoma. “It’s going to be able to provide essential things that we need for our team as well as the training for everyone.”
Darrel Long is the Director of Security at Ascension Oklahoma. He’s worked for the hospital system for 13 years and manages 52 officers systemwide. He says the grant money, from the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security, will help provide upgrades at the Ascension campuses in Green Country.
The grant money for the Jane Phillips and Broken Arrow campuses will provide new radios and camera equipment. Long says replacing old equipment with new updated radios will provide better communications on their campuses.
“That’s basically the lifeline,” said Long. “If we get into a situation that we need backup that’s what we’re going to use to get another officer there with us.”
Long says replacing older cameras will allow better visibility throughout the campuses.
“With the camera system, it allows us to have eyes where we don’t always have someone available,” said Long. “It also allows us to play back video if there’s a trip and fall or there’s an incident that takes place we can go back and preserve that video for future use.”
The grant for the main Tulsa campus will provide a new VirTra 180 training system. The interactive training system will teach officers to respond to different situations with an emphasis in de-escalation techniques and decision-making scenarios.
“I can tell you we see anything here in the hospital that you would see on the streets,” said Long.
They’ll also train for active shooter situations.
“The safety of our patients and staff is of upmost concern for our security team so we want to do anything we can to be prepared for whatever comes our way,” said Long.
Long says they hope to have the interactive training facility finished by the fall.
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