DeKalb Community Hospital was partially evacuated Wednesday after a suspicious package was found near the physician’s offices in front of the facility. The package proved to be a briefcase that had been misplaced by its owner.
According to a statement from Shan Burklow of DeKalb Community Hospital, the suspected threat turned out to be a false alarm.
"At approximately 11:15 a.m. today (July 8) a suspicious package was reported in front of the doctors building on the DeKalb Community Hospital campus in Smithville, she said. A code orange bomb threat was then issued for the entire hospital facility and a perimeter lockdown immediately took effect. Incident commander Brandon Donnell was quoted as saying, "We had a quick response from the police, fire department, sheriffs department, State Bomb and Arson, bomb dogs from Lebanon, local TMA, THP, EMS, TEMA, and 911, as well as the hospital staff and administration who train and prepare often for this type of crisis. The DeKalb Community Hospital campus maintained the perimeter on lockdown until all communicating parties deemed the threat was no longer an issue. At approximately 2 pm, the code orange bomb threat was changed to an all-clear."
Lebanon EMS was on the scene with additional support. "From our viewpoint, when we came on the scene, the evacuation procedure was spot on for a code orange,"said a representative for Lebanon Emergency Services Unit, "I was impressed to see your local emergency, fire, police, and all involved were all working so well together, and were on the same page. That's always a great sign. I was very impressed."
Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker agreed, "I appreciate everyone working together to do a great job," said Parker, "We were relieved that the threat was not real, but it is good to see how efficiently everyone responded."
"It is our priority to ensure the safety of our patients and we take every precaution necessary to that end," said Hospital CEO Sue Conley, "Our staff is well-trained and reacted quickly to this potential threat, and I am further impressed by the response of our emergency community."
