Welcome to a new edition of the Kwema Safety Speakers! February is Black History Month and we wanted to commemorate this celebration by highlighting a figure in the security field. We believe that Brine Hamilton, the president of the IAHSS, is a great example of leadership and we want to recognize his work in building a strong community in the healthcare security industry.
Kwema: Brine, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. It’s always a pleasure to have the opportunity to learn from people like you. Please share with the audience a bit about your security background.
Brine: Thank you for the invitation. I’ve been involved with the security industry since 2005, first getting my start as a security guard in a mall with the intention of leveraging the experience gained in security to support my law enforcement career goals. I worked my way to a supervisory role and in 2007 transitioned to a frontline healthcare security role. I found my niche in healthcare security and eventually decided to focus on growing in the industry and pursued leadership opportunities. After working in a number of leadership roles I joined Omnigo Software in 2020 which allows me to still remain involved in the security industry with a different perspective.
Kwema: We noticed that you have been an active member of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety since 2014. Now, you’re the current president of it. How has been your experience since then and what are your work plans for this year?
Brine: My experience has been amazing, I will echo the words of many others in saying you get out of the association what you put in. I would say you get far more out of being involved with IAHSS than you could ever put in, just in the relationships you form along the way in addition to the educational resources, leadership opportunities, and the growth you’ll experience by taking advantage of the offerings.
Kwema: In addition to being the current president at IAHSS, we know that you have a podcast focused on healthcare security. What inspired you to create it?
Brine: The inspiration for The Healthcare Security Cast was my desire to continue to learn about the industry through conversations with industry leaders and I figured by sharing these conversations others could benefit from the knowledge as well. The platform is great because podcasts are accessible to anyone who is interested in the content and provides another way to build community by connecting like-minded professionals.
Kwema: Based on your experience talking with many professionals in healthcare security, what would you say are the main topics leaders in this industry should be focused on this year?
Brine: I’ll try not to prescribe what I think leaders should focus on, but what I anticipate will be the main points of emphasis for security leaders will remain to be mitigating and reducing workplace violence in their environments. Staffing continues to be a challenge across all industries and for healthcare security programs which to some extent translates to an increased focus on retention and training. Lastly as always the need to do more with less tends to have us focusing on ways to recognize efficiencies with the resources we already have. Embracing new technologies or new ways to leverage these technologies will likely be a part of the equation.
Kwema: We believe that you have done amazing work for the healthcare security community. What advice would you give to people in safety and security to become great leaders in their industries?
Brine: I appreciate the kind words. First I’ll suggest whether it be through IAHSS, another industry association or just by building relationships with other professionals, surround yourself with people you can learn from and be prepared to share your expertise with them as well. Set and work towards goals, ir’s important to always have a target to work towards. There’s the old adage that says we often overestimate how much we can accomplish in a year while underestimating what we can accomplish in a decade. My advice is no matter what you are working towards, strive to be even marginally better with each passing day, when you look back a year later you will surprise yourself with how far you’ve come.
Kwema: Brine, we’re curious to know more about your plans. How do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Brine: This is a tough one because things are changing so quickly, what I can say is I see myself continuing to do work to advance the healthcare security industry and a lot of my personal focus will be supporting the frontline security professionals in their growth.It’s hard to think back to not being on the IAHSS Board of Directors so contributing to the association in other ways when my term is completed will be a major point of emphasis as well. As far as my career I’ve been with Omnigo Software for the last year and a half with my main focus being incident reporting software. I see the next five years of my career being focused on learning more about the industry and how we can better serve the people who are protecting our communities everyday.
We appreciate Brine’s time to share your experiences with us. We hope our readers have enjoyed this interview as much as we did. Please feel free to share your comments regarding this edition and feel free to reach out if you would like to be featured in our next edition.
Reach out Brine Hamilton on
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brine-hamilton/
For other ways to connect or check out The Healthcare Security Cast visit: https://linktr.ee/brinehamilton
