Frederick Health has added screening technology to the entrances of the hospital’s emergency room and main lobby to detect concealed weapons.
The health system will start using the technology at the entrance to the expanded emergency room on Aug. 8 and will start using the technology at the main lobby’s entrance soon after that, said David Cornelius, director of public safety, emergency management and communications for Frederick Health.
All staff members, visitors and patients who enter the hospital from either entrance will be screened by the technology, which was developed by Massachusetts-based Evolv Technology, according to a press release from the health system on Wednesday.
Frederick Health is a “weapons-free campus,” Cornelius said. The health system classifies weapons as anything the public safety team determines is “inherently dangerous” to staff members, patients or visitors.
“So that would be things like guns, knives, explosive devices, incendiary devices [and] anything that has an electrical discharge as a weapon, such as a Taser or stun gun,” Cornelius said.
The new screening technology will build on the visitor management system Frederick Health implemented in 2020 in response to public health guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before entering the hospital to see a loved one, interview for a job or conduct business, visitors must check in with the building’s security officers and provide a photo ID.
The system helps the hospital make sure everyone who visits the facility is allowed to be there and has a reason to be, Cornelius said. Although the hospital had security officers stationed at every public entrance before the pandemic, it didn’t have a formal check-in process for visitors, he said.
Before installing the weapons screening technology, the hospital didn’t generally screen for weapons when people came through the main entrances, Cornelius said.
Instead, if a security officer saw a visible weapon, they would ask the visitor to leave it in their car, he said. Hospital staff members also ask patients about weapons they have, and there are signs posted throughout the facility, notifying visitors of the no-weapons rule.
Frederick Health’s public safety team is also assessing security at health system locations around the county, Cornelius said.
Over the next six months, the team will visit the sites and look at perimeter security and the ability of staff members to summon help in the case of an emergency and access control measures to “security sensitive areas,” he said.
The health system will base security improvements at county locations on what team members find during the assessment, Cornelius said.
Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier
(6) comments
I won’t try to explain how non-sensical this idea is. Total idiocy on FH’s part. Idiots (and leftists/liberals) will not understand the explanation and logical reasoning, and everyone else likely already does.
I have a bunch of metal in a leg I was warned could set off metal detectors. I foresee embarrassment in my future.
Seriously…I have lots of metal too…don’t care. I set off the theft detectors at stores and airport scanners all the time. Boo hoo…go to your hillbilly Doctor Daisy Moses then.
The 2 million dollars that Kye and Mike blue and the county council voted to give to the plamandoon brothers for their dumb hotel...... ...... ......that money could be better used to outfit schools with metal detectors.
[thumbup]
Whataboutism.
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