Niagara Falls Hospital Looks to Beef Up Security

The Niagara Falls Hospital is condensing points of entry and investing in visitor management.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Nov 06, 2018

Officials in Niagara Falls are investing in measures to better secure Memorial Medical Center after an independent investigation by a local news station found security holes in the open-campus medical center.

The hospital is now condensing points of entry. Earlier this year, there were 11 open entrances in which the public could access the hospital. Now, there are only three.

"The first thing they said is to limit your points of entry," President and CEO of Memorial Medical Center Joe Ruffolo said in response to the investigation. "That's exactly what we did."

In order to bolster security at the three points of entry, the hospital is investing $60,000 to redesign the main lobby. The new design will put the check in desk right near the entrance so that no visitor comes through the entrance without checking in with the front desk.

The hospital has said that they will continue to look for ways to ensure the medical center is as secure as possible, which includes looking for an updated visitor management system. 

"I think we want to see if we can manage ourselves with some additional electronic photography and a badge system for visitors," Ruffolo said.

The new redesigned lobby is to be in effect by the end of January. Ruffolo says he plans to bring back the Niagara Falls Police to test its new security procedures then. 

"The only thing I can guarantee is that will will continue to make this place more safe," Ruffolo said.