The Cleveland County Detention Center chief said the center’s new health care company is doing well amid process changes and new protocols following the departure of previous controversial provider TK Health.
Detention center Chief Ted Woodhead said Redemption Correctional Healthcare Solutions is better than the center’s former provider.
“It’s like night and day. … We’re more effective,” Woodhead said. “The services they’re providing the inmates here is a lot better (than TK Health).”
The detention center has seen 11 deaths in three years under TK Health. The most recent death happened at the end of June, just two days before Redemption was set to take over.
Cynthia Smith, former registered nurse for Norman Regional Health System and co-founder of Redemption, said she and her business partners, Patrick Cody and Sean Lauderdale, decided to found the company after seeing the controversy surrounding the detention center’s health care.
“(We) just saw so much negative press, and we felt like there was a different way to do inmate health care,” Smith said. “There was a way to cut costs and give better, effective care.”
According to LinkedIn, Cody worked as the residency director in emergency medicine at Norman Regional Health System and Lauderdale served as a paramedic crew chief for the health system.
Smith said she worked with Cody and Lauderdale at Norman Regional for 25 years before founding Redemption.
The inmate intake process has changed under Redemption, according to Smith.
“We found that there were a lot of unnecessary ER visits when patients were coming in,” Smith said. “When (inmates) show up, instead of sending them out, we keep all that in-house.”
Redemption created a chart for medical staff to determine if new inmates fit the need for in-house medical treatment. The health care company implemented new protocols like in-house mental health screenings and blood pressure checks.
Smith said that prior to these new protocols, inmates would be sent out of the detention center to be screened and tested before returning to the jail to complete the intake process.
Smith said she, Cody and a physician assistant are all 10 minutes away from the detention center and available on weekends and nights if needed.
“(Redemption) instituted a lot of procedures and protocols and a lot more in-house (services),” Smith said. “I’m in-house almost every single day.”
According to Smith, Redemption partnered with OU Medical Center to get free HIV medications and received a grant from a medication company for mental health medications.
“That’s a $5,000 (HIV) medication. We can get those for free,” Smith said. “Why have the county pay for it?”
Smith believes it’s important for Redemption to use community resources so inmates can use the same resources following their release. Woodhead said inmates can request outpatient services and mental health appointments for after their release.
“At the end of the day, these inmates are gonna leave from here and they’re going to have to be out in the community,” Smith said. “Anything we can set up for them before they leave here is really gonna set some type of change for them.”
Smith said Redemption also changed the center’s medication protocol to provide inmates with medication when they are released.
“At least they’re not going out empty-handed. These patients (under TK Health) did not get their medicines when they left,” Smith said. “They’re going to leave healthier individuals than what they were when they came.”
Smith said TK Health showed her and her partners what not to do with Redemption.
“We’ve changed the expectations, we’ve improved communication and we have valued transparency, …” Smith said. “Our goal is to break the cycle of repetitious behavior coming in the jail and then going back out, coming back in and going back out.”
This story was edited by Natalie Armour and Thomas Pablo. Larkin Bock and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
