Good Job Ephrata Community Hospital

**KJ3030** · July 31st, 2017, 03:07 PM

So I got into a car accident on Saturday. Nobody was badly injured, just really banged around and shaken up. As usual, I had my .380 in a pocket holster in my pocket. After being transported by ambulance (my wife on a stretcher and me on my own power), we get to the hospital and I see the dreaded "No Firearms Allowed" sign on the door. The EMT is calling me to follow her. I quietly told the EMT I need to speak to someone before I go any further. She says, "Ok, what's up?" I said "I saw the "No Firearms" sign on the door, I have a license to carry and my pistol is in my front pocket." She discreetly said "Ok, no problem" and escorted me to the ER security office. I told the security officers the same thing and they're response was the same as the EMT's - "ok, no problem." They opened a safe inside their office and had me place my holstered pistol inside and I watched them lock the safe. (In hind site I should have requested a ticket or something identifying me as the owner of the pistol. At the time I was really shaken up and worried so much about my wife and mom that it didn't even occur to me.) So 7 hours later, everyone gets checked out and discharged from the hospital. I go back to the security office. At this point there's been a shift change so I'm really hoping it's not an issue for me to get my gun back. I knock on the door. New security guard answers. I say "Hi, I left a pistol here in the safe when I was brought in after an auto accident." Guard says "Oh yeah, the last guys left me a description of you. Hold on." He closed the door and was back in about 30 seconds with my gun. He handed it to me and said "Sorry, we're not allowed to let people in the office." I responded "Well the last officers did. They had me place my gun in the safe myself. They never touched it." He just kinda mumbled "oh...well...uh..." kind of thing while I checked my mag to make sure all my rounds were still there. They were. I said thanks and walked out of the hospital with my pistol in my pocket exactly where it was when I walked in. Definitely a few small things that could have been handled or done better, but overall - Good Job Ephrata Community Hospital!

BTW: My spare mag that was in the cargo pocket of my shorts got thrown out of my pocket. I went to go get the stuff out of my van this afternoon and found it under the middle row seat on the opposite side of the vehicle! We got smashed pretty hard!

**Statkowski** · July 31st, 2017, 03:12 PM

Good to hear that everyone's okay. Just imagine if you had been taken to a New Jersey hospital.

**KJ3030** · July 31st, 2017, 03:40 PM

I don't want to even imagine the nightmare that would have ended up being!

**bamboomaster** · July 31st, 2017, 04:08 PM

Hope everybody's OK and glad it worked out. (probably because Colt makes Gatling guns in Ephrata so they're thankful you didn't come in with one of those....)

Just sayin'....

Also hope your insurance covers everything and no sneaky bills come your way...

**tlnzz1** · July 31st, 2017, 04:13 PM

The last time I was in a accident was 2007. The first thing I did as soon as I figured out what was going on, I grabbed my loaded 9MM and held on to it. As I was being backboarded by the EMTs, I reached my hand out with the gun in it, grip first, and told the Officer who showed up at the accident that it was loaded and to hold on to it for me. He never blinked or even said anything that I remember. My wife picked it up a few days later. They unloaded it before giving it to my wife. No hassle, no problem.