New Hampshire

Concord Hospital To Perform ‘Armed Intruder’ Drill Wednesday

Published

2 years ago

September 24, 2024

Concord Hospital To Perform ‘Armed Intruder’ Drill Wednesday

CONCORD, NH — If you hear strange sounds or see unusual activity at the Concord Hospital campus on Wednesday, everything is OK … it is only a drill.

Concord Hospital Health System and the New Hampshire Department of Homeland Security will conduct an “armed intruder” drill at the hospital. This is the third such drill happening with the hospital’s affiliates. Drills were also held in Franklin and Laconia earlier this year.

John Duval, the hospital’s director of security, said safety and training have been consistent priorities for security staff. However, security staffers, who also worked with hospital staff to ensure they were prepared, had not done extensive training since the end of the pandemic. Duval has also been named to a new state commission focused on hospital safety.

A few events nationally led the team to “revisit our policy” and shift the focus from active shooter to armed intruder.

“There have been situations, not only in the United States but across the world, where the killing of people in one incident happens in other ways other than firearms,” he said.

Duval said security and medical staff needed to be focused on the person and the weapon, not just a gun. The security staff then rewrote many of the protocols over the course of about two years. During all of last year, employees at all three hospitals were trained with the new policies.

Eric Crane, a security program manager at the hospital, said employees worked on functional exercises, testing their eternal response to an event. Every department and employee was involved in hundreds of activities. The events and exercises were “short in duration” but meant to get employees to focus on what was happening at the hospital before outside personnel arrived to assist.

“Our policy speaks to avoid, hide, and fight,” he said.

Previously, the policy was run, hide, and fight, but that often led to hundreds of employees all converging on exits, causing clusters of activity and chaos. By avoiding, employees create distance, and in many ways, Duval said, they are safer, too.

Crane said he would act as an armed intruder and then instruct the staff to react to the scenario chosen for the training so the drill would be as realistic as possible. Hospital staff, he said, performed the tasks before work, during breaks and lunch hours, and after regular work hours, so their day-to-day activities focused on patient care were not affected by the training.

Security officials conducted debriefings after the training to analyze each department’s successes. Crane said each employee reacted differently to each scenario; some found their heart rates rising, while others had to address the emotionality of the training.

“The reactions have been quite positive,” Crane said.

Duval said each department now had safety and escape plans based on the training. And every employee, too, has their plans, he said.

“We want them to keep this, not on the front burner,” he said. “Awareness. Don’t come to work afraid; come to work aware. And when you do that, you can do your job, reasonably safe, and the employee will be successful when they are mindful of their options.”

After all the training, Duval and Crane raised the level beyond the hospitals to include outside law enforcement, fire and rescue teams, and other entities involved with emergency rooms. When there is conflict in a hospital, Duval said, it was often in an emergency department, even though it could happen anywhere in the building. But it was usually focused on a specific crisis incident.

While law enforcement and firefighters will be involved, the focus will not be on their activities and reactions as much as on the reactions of the hospital staff and security.

Franklin was held in May, and Laconia in August. After Wednesday’s work, the security officials will assess how everything went and then proceed.

Duval and Crane said the hospitals had excellent working relationships with law enforcement partners around the county and were fortunate to have built rapport with the departments.

The drill will start at Concord Hospital around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

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New Hampshire

Three seriously injured in head-on crash on I-293 in Hooksett, N.H. – The Boston Globe

Published

5 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Press Room

Three seriously injured in head-on crash on I-293 in Hooksett, N.H. – The Boston Globe

Three people suffered injuries in a two-vehicle collision early Tuesday morning in Hooksett, New Hampshire.Courtesy of New Hampshore State

Three people suffered serious injuries Tuesday in a two-vehicle crash in Hooksett, N.H., police said.

The head-on collision happened around 5:40 a.m. on Interstate 293 northbound, State Police said.

Police said that Timothy Hubbard, 43, of Rome, Maine, was traveling south when he lost control of his car and crossed the median into oncoming traffic, police said.

Hubbard, his passenger, and the other driver were taken to hospitals to be treated for serious injuries, police said. The injures were not believed to be life-threatening.

Police said speed was believed to be a factor in the crash, which is under investigation.

Hannah Goeke can be reached at hannah.goeke@globe.com.

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New Hampshire

Sara Doherty – Concord Monitor

Published

15 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Press Room

Sara Doherty

Franklin, NH – Sara Jane (Sanford) Doherty, 79, of Franklin, New Hampshire, passed away peacefully at her home on June 11, 2026. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Sara was born on June 5, 1947, in Hanover, New Hampshire, to Harold and Sadie (Pettengill) Sanford.

As the daughter of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee, Sara spent her childhood moving throughout New England, living in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She graduated from high school in Hudson, Massachusetts, and later returned to New Hampshire, eventually settling in Franklin, where she made her home for more than forty years.

Sara built a successful career in the textile industry. She worked as a seamstress at Howland Originals before joining Star Specialty Knitting, where she began as a stitcher and, through hard work and determination, advanced to Plant Manager. She retired in 2003, and one of the greatest joys of her retirement was caring for several of her grandchildren, whom she adored.

Sara was a remarkably talented and creative artisan. She sewed clothing for her children when they were young and later created outfits for her grandchildren and their dolls. She was a gifted painter and artist whose extraordinary drawings and paintings brought joy to those around her. An accomplished seamstress, knitter, crocheter, cake decorator, and musician, Sara had an exceptional ability to create beauty in many forms. Her handmade gifts and treasured creations will be cherished by her family for generations to come.

Her talent for cake decorating blossomed into a successful side business that spanned more than thirty years. Sara created hundreds of stunning and imaginative cakes, including wedding and birthday cakes for her own children and grandchildren. Her passion for baking was so well known that for many years her license plate proudly read “CAKES+.”

Sara also had a remarkable gift for bringing people together. She hosted countless family reunions, each one more creative than the last. With elaborate themes, games, prizes, delicious food, and endless laughter, she created memories that her family will treasure forever. She was also known for her generous holiday gatherings, often welcoming more than thirty family members and friends into her home for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Summers brought cherished Fourth of July cookouts by Webster Lake, where Sara delighted in decorating the waterfront and gathering loved ones to enjoy the annual boat parade.

Sara’s love of giraffes was known by all who knew her. She spent years collecting hundreds of them, giving each a special “G” name. Before her passing, she shared one of her favorites, “Geebri,” with her granddaughter Sydni, who is expecting Sara’s first great-grandchild.

Her warmth, creativity, generosity, and love of family touched everyone who knew her. To say she will be missed is a vast understatement. She was truly the heart of her family.

Sara leaves behind her devoted husband of 43 years, Joel Doherty; her sons, Todd (Michelle) Chapman of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, and Paul (Cheryl) Chapman of Northfield, New Hampshire; her stepdaughters, Ali (Oliver) Frates of Amherst, New Hampshire, and Kate Hodge of Durham, New Hampshire; and her beloved grandchildren, Shelby, Sydni, Morgan, Owen, Duncan, Calum, Macy, and Elyse, and Step-grandchildren, Matthew, Jennifer, Eric, & Kevin.

Sara was predeceased by her parents.

Sara’s family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to Franklin VNA for their rapid and seamless response in setting up hospice, and to The Payson Center for their dedication and care, which gave us more precious time with her.

A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 11:00 AM in Franklin Cemetery, Thompson Park in Franklin.

For more information or to leave the family an online condolence, please visit www.smartmemorialhome.com.

Click here to sign the guest book or honor their memory with flowers, donations, or other heartfelt tributes

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New Hampshire

New NH law requires statewide ‘best practices’ for pig scrambles starting in 2027

Published

1 day ago

June 22, 2026

Press Room

New NH law requires statewide ‘best practices’ for pig scrambles starting in 2027

A staple of many New Hampshire town fairs, the pig scramble may soon look a little different.

A bill signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte last week requires the commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture to create best practices for any event in which people compete to capture a pig. Those guidelines will be published before the 2027 fair season, so they won’t be in place for any fairs with pig scrambles this year, such as the upcoming Deerfield Fair in the fall.

Generally, a pig scramble involves people of the same age competing to capture pigs that have been let loose in a large pen. Contestants have to catch the pig in a drawstring bag, and the first one to do so can take the pig home.

Rep. Cathryn Harvey, a Democrat from Spofford, is the prime sponsor of the bill. She said each fair has different rules for their pig scrambles, meaning some can be more humane than others. One aspect of the events she hopes will change is the bags pigs are captured in.

“They’re putting an animal in a plastic bag on a hot summer day,” Harvey said. “It isn’t a great idea.”

Although some fairs already use more breathable bags out of burlap, Joan O’Brien, president of the New Hampshire Animal Rights League, said she’s also seen pigs being kept in plastic bags for long periods of time after the event. Not only would a burlap bag improve the pig’s ability to breathe in the heat, she said, but she also wants fairs to require participants to bring an animal carrier for the trip home. Her organization was ultimately in favor of the legislation.

“If you don’t have a carrier, you should not be allowed to leave your pig lying in a bag,” O’Brien said, adding that some fairs already ask contestants to bring carriers. “You should be taking them right home.”

The Deerfield Fair has implemented another rule that O’Brien and Harvey hope becomes part of statewide best practices — having parents supervise their child in the pen. O’Brien once witnessed a child hang a pig upside down by its legs and then lower it headfirst into the bag.

“In the heat of the moment, the kids get excited and they just do whatever it takes to get the pig in the bag,” O’Brien said. She said parents should work with the event referee to make sure their kid is handling the pig humanely.

Harvey’s bill originally called for pig scrambles to be banned around the state, but both she and O’Brien feel that universal guidelines for fairs would still make the experience better for the animals. Even seemingly small things, Harvey said, like giving the pigs water after the scramble, would be an improvement to the current situation for them.

“I think that the bill will embolden people to speak up at these events,” O’Brien said. “If they think a pig is being mistreated, they’ll be able to say to themselves, ‘I know that there’s supposed to be a rule, so I’m going to say something.’ So I think that would be a good outcome.”

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