Tuesday morning about 11:45 the Plymouth Police Department received information of a possible threat made toward the staff of the Bowen Center on Illinois Street in Plymouth. The threat stemmed from an incident that occurred in the jurisdiction of the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department during the morning hours of Tuesday, June 17th.
During the time the Plymouth Police Department was investigating the threat, the Bowen Center was placed on lockdown as a precaution. Subsequently, the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth was also placed on lockdown. Officers from the Plymouth Police Department were stationed at both locations during the lockdowns.
The Plymouth Police Department was able to make contact with the individual that made the alleged threat and upon speaking with that individual, the lockdown was lifted at approximately 1:30p.m.
About 1:40 Tuesday afternoon Pamela Henderson, Public Information Officer for Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center released this statement concerning the Plymouth campus. “The threat to Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth has been resolved. We have resumed normal operations.”
In a late afternoon conference call Loretta Schmidt, President of SJRMC in Plymouth said, “Once we knew there was a creditable threat we began the process of locking the doors to the facility.” This included the medical offices on the west side of the hospital and the Cancer Institute on the east side. Visitors and patients were directed to use the main entrance or the emergency room entrance and those individuals were escorted to their appointments and treatments or to the rooms where they were visiting someone in the hospital. She indicated that this was due to the fact of people having to enter through different entrances and having trouble getting around the facility.
Schmidt confirmed that the threat was not directly made at the hospital or to them but they tend to “era on the side of caution for the safety and security” of the patients, visitors and staff. She also indicated that this is an extremely rare situation and that the patients and visitors had positive responses when told of the issue.
The hospital president also wanted to thank the Plymouth Police Department for their quick response. She said the city and county police and EMA serve in a partnership with the hospital and that it is truly instrumental for them to work and drill together for just such a situation.
