WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The escape Wednesday of a criminal from Laurel Regional Hospital was the second in less than two months and it had employees there on edge.

“We have been hearing from members today,” said Ebs Burnough, political director for the Service Employees International Union local 1199, which represents about 1,700 workers in the county’s hospitals. “They’re upset, but they’re fine. They’re shaken.”

Kelvin Poke’s early-morning escape from the 146-bed hospital, in which he overpowered four officers and a security guard, mirrored a similar escape that occurred Nov. 13 when Kamara Mohamed broke free after assaulting and shooting at a Maryland state trooper. Mohamed was found after a five-hour manhunt.

Poke was on the run for about seven hours before he was killed in a shootout with police in a Suitland cemetery.

“Our members are very concerned for their safety but also of course for the safety of their patients,” Burnough said.

The hospital is run by Dimensions Healthcare System, an organization that has seen shakeups in its leadership over the past year amid fighting with the county over funding. Employees have said the hospital’s financial woes have put a strain on staff as an increasing number of workers leave.

Burnough said Wednesday’s escape illustrated “how that turmoil really does leave the core functions of the needs of these health care facilities unmet.”

Sherbon Yancey, a spokeswoman for Dimensions, said the hospital’s administration released a memo to “staff insuring that we have addressed their safety needs ... that’s all I can really say about it.”

Yancey would not make a copy of that memo available to The Examiner.

“This is a difficult time,” Yancey said. “We’re just trying to make sure everyone is taken care of.”

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com