Security

Charlestown has uniformed safety and emergency services (SES) officers on duty twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. The officers make periodic rounds throughout the campus. For your convenience, there is a Security Dispatcher on duty (24) hours a day, (7) days a week. You are welcome to contact them at 410-737-8806.

Comprehensive Emergency Medical Program

Charlestown implemented a comprehensive emergency medical program July 1, 2017. The new program allows Charlestown Safety and Emergency Services (SES) staff to consult with the Medical Center on-call physician as necessary in making the determination to transport to a hospital. They are also supplied with more diagnostic equipment.  Before July 1, 2017, the EMT license required an automatic transport to the hospital.

To implement the program, all SES Officers have been trained and certified as Emergency Medical Responders (EMR) by the National Safety Council. The curriculum teaches first responders to:

• Assess patients
• Address airway and breathing emergencies, including training on ventilation devices and oxygen
• Respond to cardiac emergencies, including CPR and automated external defibrillation training
• Treat illness and injury, including medical emergencies, such as bleeding and shock, soft-tissue injuries, and muscle, bone, head and spinal injuries
• Perform remote-location first aid and EMS Operations

The  SES officers carry more advanced diagnostic equipment to better assess and diagnose your condition. Some of these devices include pulse oximeters (indicating your level of oxygen saturation throughout the body), glucose meters (indicating your sugar level), along with blood pressure cuffs, and stethoscopes. They will continue to have bedside access to trauma kits, oxygen and AED’s. Additionally, this level of training will now allow our personnel to be more versed in patient assessments to include: the Cincinnati Stroke Scale, the Glasgow Trauma Scale, and others. The EMR’s also carry Glucose Paste (to elevate sugar levels), Aspirin (for strokes/heart attacks) and may assist you in administering epinephrine, as available. Additional medications are currently under review.

A new dispatch process will send two EMR certified SES officers to all medical calls of significance. While on-scene, one Officer will perform a full assessment, while the other is gathering information from the Vial of Life, medical records, allergies and other related necessities. The program has the capability of contacting an on-call Charlestown Medical Center doctor 24/7 as well as accessing the electronic medical record as needed.

Alert Line

As one of the many ways we try to keep residents informed, Charlestown has an Alert Line, 410-314-7944. This line is updated daily, Monday through Friday, and offers residents emergency information pertinent to the community. It is updated on weekends and holidays only in the event of an emergency.

Recently, we have had several phone calls to our apartments alerting us of situations on campus through the Swift Reach Network. This new system replaces the outdated speaker system that was used to alert residents of emergencies. It can send alerts campus-wide or to the specific area of an incident. The campus-wide power outage earlier last month brought several important items to our attention about using this new system effectively. Of primary importance is that the call line directory includes every resident in independent living and is up-to-date.

Read more about the Swift Reach Network Alerts Residents about Campus Emergencies and Power Outages