Citing concern for patient and staff safety, officials at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center have installed bulletproof glass around the emergency department's reception desk.
The hospital was the site of a run-in in July between two alleged killers - men charged in a Plymouth triple homicide - and the mother of a victim who was hospitalized on life support. But hospital officials on Monday said the move to improve patient and staff safety was not motivated by any one incident.
"This was done simply as a proactive measure to make sure our employees and patients feel as safe as possible when they're at the ED," Geisinger Health System spokesman Matthew Van Stone said.
The bulletproof glass, which was installed last week, encloses the reception desk that patients and visitors encounter upon entering the emergency department's lobby - an area that used to be an open desk, Van Stone said.
In order to access the emergency department - which has always been locked - people must be buzzed in by people now protected by the glass, he said, noting that the hospital also has security in the emergency department lobby 24 hours per day.
It makes sense for hospitals to beef up security because the region is increasingly dealing with big-city criminals, and hospitals are seeing a correlating rise in crime, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said.
"We're no longer a small little community that doesn't need to worry about stuff like this in our neighborhoods," Salavantis said. "This is just one more measure that should be taken to protect members of the community."
Victims of shooting and stabbings from the area frequently get sent to the hospital's trauma unit. In one case in July, the alleged shooter followed.
According to police, Shawn James Hamilton, 19, and his brother Sawud Davis, 16, both of Philadelphia, showed up at the Geisinger emergency department to visit a man just a day after police say Hamilton shot him.
"We don't know exactly what was going through their minds at that time," Salavantis said.
Police say Hamilton got out a car and ran to Jay Street about noon July 6, then sprayed the area with .40-caliber rounds, shooting 22-year-old Kenyatta Hughston in the head.
The next day, Hamilton and Davis opened fire in a Plymouth apartment, killing three people and severely injuring a fourth because, police said, they didn't want to leave witnesses to a drug deal.
Just hours later, the brothers arrived at Geisinger to visit Hughston, an acquaintance of Hamilton's from the local heroin trade whom they described as a brother and cousin.
But Hughston's mother, who was at the hospital, didn't recognize either man and told staff to keep them away from her ailing son, officials said.
Investigators linked Hamilton to Hughston's shooting within days and he was charged with a fourth murder count when Hughston died in October. Both men remain jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility awaiting trial for murder.
People who visit the hospital are unlikely to see violence on that scale, but visitors there Monday said they thought the added precaution makes sense in light of the questionable characters who sometimes visit the emergency department.
"It's definitely nerve-wracking, but it's also reality. Unfortunately, violence is up everywhere and you don't know how anyone's going to react anymore," said Jodi Miller, 38, of Jenkins Township, who has been coming to the hospital for years.
"We've been here in the middle of the night when there's (people) - I don't know if they're spaced out or whatever - and they're really nasty and threatening," said Beverly Huchenski, 62, of Vandling.
"A lot of crazies around," added her husband, 63-year-old Tom Huchenski.
James P. McGuire, a spokesman for Commonwealth Health, said Wilkes-Barre General Hospital does not have bulletproof glass at its facility but that it does make staff and patient safety a high priority.
"Wilkes-Barre General Hospital's ED uses tempered safety glass to provide privacy and separation between public and patient treatment areas," McGuire said in a prepared statement. "While we cannot comment on specific security measures we have in place, our new Emergency Department includes multiple complimentary security features to help ensure the safety of our staff, patients and visitors."
