Lee Health Uses Data-Driven Weapons Detection Powered by Evolv Aimed at Helping to Address Provider and Patient Safety in Its Emergency Departments
When Robert Sherwood, the Director of Public Safety Technology & Community Based Care at Lee Health, joined the nonprofit healthcare system based in Southwest Florida 13 years ago, its security systems looked much different than they do today. Since he joined the team, Sherwood has led Lee Health in implementing various technology initiatives aimed at improving security and safety. Despite various advances in security processes, significant gaps remained. For several years, Lee Health relied on handheld methods to screen for incoming weapons. However, the security team was unable to check everyone for weapons.
Knowing they wanted to institute an advanced weapons detection solution, the Lee Health team went in search of a new approach. The team did a lot of research online and identified several different technologies that included Evolv. Ultimately, there were three reasons why Lee Health selected Evolv—solutions that were aimed to help improve data and analytics, provide efficient traffic flow, and the footprint of the security solution.
Since deploying Evolv, Lee Health has seen high rates of weapons detection in its Emergency Departments. For instance, in the second half of 2023, Lee Health detected 157 guns and over 1,000 knives. These were surprising numbers given the amount that were identified previously, indicating that there may have previously been weapons entering the hospital campus without the team knowing.
“We’ve screened over 222,000 patients and visitors with Evolv to date,” Sherwood reports. “It was mind-boggling to see the first monthly report that we generated with Evolv Insights. I saw the number of weapons we detected, and I thought, ‘Wow! This system is amazing.’”
Hear their story on how Evolv Express® and Evolv Insights® has helped Lee Health to:
- Find 160+ guns and 1,000+ knives in the second half of 2023 alone
- Screen over 220,000+ patients, visitors, staff, and providers since deployment
- Achieve a 44-second clear rate for secondary screening
- Analyze traffic flow and threat detection analytics daily and monthly
