Since installing a new system to detect weapons at its emergency department, Windsor Regional Hospital has turned up 2,239 weapons, more than half, knives.
The hospital installed the Evolv Detector System in October, and it hasn't detected any guns so far, but CEO David Musyj said firearms were a concern before the new security measures.
"Leading into the use of the machines, those were a couple of the items we had detected before," said Musyj. "That was one of the prompts that we really needed to do something."
The number of items has petered out in the past six months, but Musyj admitted he's still shocked by how many weapons come in the door.
"Over the past month -- we're detecting about three knives a day," Musyj said. "We were told by the company to expect, at the start, a rather dramatic number -- and then they said, over time, as the word gets out, the numbers will start to decrease, and then we'll hit a plateau."
In January, the machine detected 461 items, of which 272 were knives. That number fell to 311 items in February and 121 in March.
Musyj couldn't say if the hospital has reached that plateau, but staff in the hospital feel safer, although the number of knives is still jarring.
"They're not all illegal knives. It sounds like a lot of people carry around pocket knives," he explained. "We can hold on to them, and they can collect them when they leave. Illegal knives, we contact the authorities."
The hospital leases the machines for $8,000 a month, but Musyj believes it's a solid investment.
"There's nothing that's 100 per cent, but if you layer it on top of other security and safety measures, it's a great item to have," he said.