Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Healthcare held a "Healthcare Violence Prevention Fair" to teach workers de-escalation tips in early May after an increase in Code Greens, according to ABC affiliate WVEC.
"I can't think of a day that really goes by that we are not having a Code Green call, where we have to respond to some type of escalation from a patient or an employee standpoint," Kimberly Green, BSN, RN, a nurse manager at Chesapeake, told the outlet.
On May 8, a bomb threat prompted an evacuation at Chesapeake. Two days later and 100 miles away, there was a fatal shooting at VCU Medical Center North Hospital in Richmond, Va.
Speakers at the fair said the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the amount of violence committed against healthcare employees at work, and Chesapeake President and CEO Reese Jackson told WVEC his hospital will host the same fair every year if these escalations continue.