Joseph Kobos, Ph.D., director of the Student Counseling Service and professor in the Department of Psychiatry, is chairman of the Behavior Intervention Team.
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In response to deadly violence on other college and university campuses, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is launching a new telephone number — 567-CARE (567-2273) — to report unusual behavior or concerns about personal safety on the Health Science Center campus. The new telephone number went into effect on April 1.

In addition, a new section on the portal provides training to help individuals prepare for and react to a campus emergency.

“We are fortunate that we have not had a major violent act on our campus, but we want to be prepared and give our faculty, staff and students the tools they need to prevent or react to campus violence,” Interim President William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, said. “We want our campus to be safe.”

Related links: Shootings on other university and college campuses New resources provide training for campus emergencies

Behavior Intervention Team recommendations
These two new initiatives were the recommendations of the university’s Behavior Intervention Team (BIT), a campus advisory group appointed by former President Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., to provide advice, guidance and education in response to problematic behavior on the Health Science Center campus. Since then, the BIT has been endorsed by the university’s Executive Committee and Dr. Henrich.

The BIT is made up of a cross section of the campus community, including deans, faculty, staff, students and campus law enforcement. It is chaired by Joseph Kobos, Ph.D., director of the Student Counseling Service and professor in the Department of Psychiatry.

Caring enough to call
“Some of the incidences on other campuses came about because people did not know how to report something that concerned them,” Dr. Kobos said. “We know that our faculty, staff and students care about their colleagues and want to help if someone is having problems. We chose this phone number because it is easy to remember and reminds the campus community to care about their colleagues. We want everyone to feel safe here.”

Examples of problems Dr. Kobos has seen through the years include:

• Students who are depressed or distraught over difficulties in school
  
• Faculty members who are concerned about disruptive or threatening behavior in their classroom
  
• Individuals who may be in danger due to marital problems
  
• Employees who are having difficulty getting along with their colleagues
  
• Supervisors who are worried they may be harmed when terminating an employee

Diffusing situations before they become harmful
“All of these problems involve emotions that can be unpredictable and can cause harmful actions,” Dr. Kobos said. “We want people to know that if they are concerned, it is OK to call. We will find help for them,” Dr. Kobos said.

UT Police will respond or triage calls for assistance
Like calling 911 from your Health Science Center desk phone or 567-2800, 567-CARE (567-2273) will be answered by the UT Health Science Center Police Department, whose job it is to handle emergencies.

“What is different about 567-CARE is that the police now have additional training to refer calls that are not immediately life-threatening to helpful resources. We hope that these resources will help prevent concerns from escalating into dangerous situations,” Dr. Kobos said.

Students will be transferred to the Student Counseling Service or sent to University Hospital for after-hours emergencies. Faculty and staff members will be transferred to the new UT Advantage Faculty & Staff Assistance Program, where they can talk to counselors and receive additional information through the program’s many online resources.

Sign up for HSC Alert
Faculty, staff and students are reminded to sign up for HSC Alert, the campus emergency response system that sends notifications by text message or e-mail in case of emergencies or campus closure.

“Even if you have already signed up for HSC Alert, we urge you to periodically check the e-mail addresses and phone numbers you designated to make sure that they are current,” Dr. Kobos said. “If there ever is a campus emergency, we want to be able to contact you.”

To sign up for HSC Alert or to check your HSC Alert designations, sign in on the portal (http://inside.uthscsa.edu) and follow the instructions in the HSC Alert Section.