Western State Hospital tells Lakewood advisory committee how it alerts police and neighbors when patients go missing

Western State Hospital leaders told the Lakewood Safety Advisory Committee on Thursday that the hospital triggers immediate internal and external notifications when a patient is discovered missing and that a new hospital under construction is being designed to reduce both the institutional feel and the likelihood of escapes.

"First, know that every patient that is at Western State Hospital is court ordered to be there," Linda Silva, deputy CEO for the Gage Center of Excellence, said in the committee meeting. She explained that when a civil patient fails to return from an authorized leave, it is classified as an "unauthorized leave" (UL); when a forensic patient without privileges is absent, it is treated as an "escape." Both incidents, she said, prompt immediate action under state law.

Silva said the hospital’s command-and-control center is the hub for notifications: staff pass along patient names, clothing descriptions, last-seen locations and directions of travel, and the control center simultaneously notifies…