Lexington, Kentucky – The University of Kentucky’s (UK) Chandler Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital have implemented additional security measures to their emergency departments.
Visitors who enter the emergency departments will now be screened by UK police officers with handheld metal detectors, reports UK HealthCare. The new metal detection policy went into effect on Tuesday.
“The new step also offers an opportunity to remind everyone of other measures already in place – or that are being considered – as part of our comprehensive safety efforts,” UK HealthCare said in an article.
Those measures include reminding all healthcare providers and staff members to use employee entrances rather than public entrances. UK HealthCare says this move reduces congestion. Employees who do come in via public entrances will be scanned with a metal detector wand.
Signage reminding everyone that guns and other weapons aren’t permitted at the hospitals have been in place for many years.
UK HealthCare also plans on installing fixed metal detectors at the entrances of its emergency departments.
UK and UK HealthCare officials say the bolstering of the hospitals’ security is in response to increasing reports of violence in healthcare. The Joint Commission’s 2018 Sentinel Event Alert Issue 59 found that 75% of workplace assaults occur in healthcare settings.
Additionally, just last month, Chandler Hospital experienced a close call when a man brought guns and bombs on campus. The suspect, 44-year-old Bryan Carroll, was also wearing body armor.
The suspect was apprehended by UK Police after he left the hospital. UK Police had received a tip from another law enforcement agency that Carroll was on his way to visit a relative at the hospital and should be considered armed and dangerous.
Four IEDs and three more handguns were found in Carroll’s car.
Video surveillance also played an important role in apprehending the suspect. The campus has more than 3,000 security cameras installed.
