CHESAPEAKE, Va. — President and CEO of Chesapeake Regional Healthcare Reese Jackson didn't want to start National Hospital Week with a bomb threat.
However, that is exactly what happened on Monday.
"We had a wonderful opening to the week, and then a couple hours later, we had to evacuate everyone from the building because someone called in a bomb threat," Jackson said.
It's a sobering reminder of the violence healthcare workers face day in and day out while on the job.
The bomb threat joins a series of attacks levied against healthcare workers across the country, including a fatal shooting at VCU Medical Center in Richmond, and a deadly hospital shooting in Atlanta that killed one patient.
"I can't think of a day that really goes by that we are not having a Code Green call, where we have to respond to some type of escalation from a patient or an employee standpoint," said Kimberly Green, a nurse manager at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
These threats and attacks spurred hospital leaders to host a "Healthcare Violence Prevention Fair" to teach de-escalating tactics in the face of looming threats.
It's a conversation healthcare leaders said they don't want to have; however, they said it is necessary for their employees' safety.
"Hospital workers are six times more likely to suffer job violence than any other private sector," said Julie Dime with Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
While violence within healthcare has always existed, speakers at the fair said the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem.
A survey with Workplace Health and Safety found two-thirds of nurses experienced verbal abuse in early 2020.
Jackson said his hospital will continue to host the Healthcare Violence Prevention Fair every year so long as the threat against staffers and patients continues.