STEGH leadership monitoring full-body scanner pilot projects after weekend incident involving knife

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital leadership is considering full-body scanners following a violent incident over the weekend.

Leadership at the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital (STEGH) is monitoring body-scanning pilot programs in the wake of an incident involving a knife over the weekend.

“The safety of our patients, visitors, and staff is always our top priority,” said STEGH VP and CFO Tonya Sheldon, who also oversees the security team, in a statement to CTV News.

A code silver was declared at approximately 1 a.m. Sunday morning.

Police were called when a person pulled a knife after refusing to leave the hospital.

The man surrendered to police and there were no injuries.

“We are extremely proud of our team for their swift and professional response, which helped ensure the safety of everyone involved,” Sheldon said.

“Our security teams are equipped with body-worn cameras, which were introduced a few years ago as an enhanced safety feature to help de-escalate situations and protect both staff and patients,” Sheldon added. “We also recently completed a code silver simulation training exercise in partnership with the St. Thomas Police Service, which helped prepare our teams for real-world situations such as this.”

She adds hospital leadership is also tracking full-body scanner pilot projects at hospitals in the region.

“We are monitoring these initiatives closely and will use the findings to help guide future decisions around security enhancements at STEGH,” Sheldon said.

The London Health Sciences Centre is currently running a pilot program using full-body scanners after a shooting outside the Victoria Hospital emergency room in December 2024.