Vanderbilt University Medical Center adding new weapons detection systems
Rush said safety is her top priority and she is committed to ensuring Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is the safest in the region.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Weapon detection systems are being installed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Hospital leaders said it’s part of a new security plan to keep patients and staff safe.
The new screening devices will be installed starting at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt on April 18, a hospital spokesperson said. They will be expanded to other buildings over the coming months.
The weapon detection systems will be placed in the vestibules on the first and second-floor entrances to the children’s hospital. The current metal detectors used to enter the emergency department will remain in place.
“There is no perfect plan that will create 100% safety,” Monroe Carell president Dr. Meg Rush said. “But we do believe by mitigating the chance that somebody brings a firearm or another weapon into our facility, that we will mitigate the risk. We believe layering this on top of the practices that we have is the way to go.”
Rush said safety is her top priority and she is committed to ensuring Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is the safest in the region.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital added new security screening checkpoints that limited where people could enter the building. Those will only be strengthened with the new weapon detection systems that were tested at multiple Vanderbilt Health facilities last year, Rush said.
“We come to work every day to render aid to children and to support their families on some of their darkest days,” Rush said. “To come in and have to be fearful that someone might have a weapon in a diaper bag, or backpack or purse is unnerving to staff.”
Last September, a man was arrested while visiting his son at Monroe Carrell after police said he had a loaded gun and threatened to shoot someone. Rush said guns have never been allowed and this new technology will stop people from sneaking them into the hospital.
Keri Harris said it was worrying there were not more security screenings when her 11-year-old son was rushed from Paducah to Nashville for emergency surgery over the weekend. She expected these checkpoints to be in place in a big city and is very happy they are being added to the hospital.
“I think it is a great idea,” Harris said. “It keeps everybody safe. It keeps the doctors, the nurses, the staff safe, as well as all the patients and family members. You never know what another family is going through that could put your child at risk.”
One of the entrances will be monitored by an Evolv technology that’s designed to find both concealed and visible guns. It’s the same system that has been used for years at Nissan Stadium and Bridgestone Arena. Many schools in Middle Tennessee have also started to add these systems over the past year.
Harris said it will be nice to walk right through the screening devices, without being slowed down like traditional metal detectors, and get to where her child is being treated on the other side of security.
“The sooner it goes into effect, the sooner people are safer inside,” Harris said. “You have less chance of something else to worry about when you are worrying about your child’s health already.”
The children’s hospital is also adding a visitor management system in the coming months, Rush said. It will allow them to have photos of everyone in the building and visitor badges with their name and appointment location listed. She is hopeful that this will even further help ensure the safety of patients, their families and the hospital’s staff.
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