Drugs, brass knuckles found by Windsor hospital weapons detectors

Drugs, drug paraphernalia, as well as a set of brass knuckles are among the items seized at Windsor Regional Hospital since it started using a weapons detection system at its emergency departments, according to hospital CEO David Musyj.

Musyj says that more than 1,100 items have been identified by the hospital's weapons detection system since it was deployed on Oct. 19, 2023, and that 600 of them were knives.

"[The board] said we would look at expanding it across other parts of the hospital," he said during his monthly report to the hospital's board on Thursday. "We're not quite there yet, but it sure is trending in that direction and that we would be looking at this technology on a much broader scale."

In a media availability after the meeting, Musyj said that no guns were detected, for which he was grateful.

Appointment backlog to be cleared in 10 weeks

Hospital officials also provided an update on the effects of the cyberattack last fall, which created a backlog on scans such as MRIs and CT scans.

The hospital's backlog of appointments for P3 patients, who need imaging within 10 days, will begin to be cleared by next week, says the hospital's chief operating officer and chief nursing executive, with the entire backlog expected to be cleared within 10 weeks.

"We were still getting referrals throughout the Code Grey," said Karen Riddell. "We were trying to divert those that were appropriate to other centres, but we still do have a backlog."

Riddell also added that P4 patients, who require the least urgency, will have to wait a little longer. Patients awaiting an MRI will begin to be seen this month and those requiring a CT scan will be dealt with next month.

Windsor Regional was among five southwestern Ontario hospitals hit by a ransomware attack on Oct. 23, 2023, which compromised patient data and shut down hospital systems.

Musyj says this has taken a toll on hospital staff.

"They had to go through the pandemic just like everyone else did and they feel the impact of the criminal cyberattack as well," he said. "But I have to emphasize, the staff have done an amazing job. The minute we knew something was up and the minute it was confirmed it was a cyberattack; the minute the systems go down is the minute our downtime procedures go up."

Flu, COVID-19 trending upward: wastewater data

Wastewater data collected by a member of the University of Windsor's Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research shows that influenza and COVID-19 cases have been rising in Windsor-Essex since the start of the new year, but that Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)cases have dropped since they peaked in November.

"Hopefully the RSV continues to go down," said Musyj. "Influenza definitely hasn't peaked, but maybe COVID has peaked and is starting to go down. We'll see what the wastewater data continues to see in the future trends."

Hospital chief of staff Dr. Wassim Saad said along with the mix of people coming in for one of the three respiratory illnesses that are tracked, patients with bacterial infections, like pneumonia, have also started to increase in frequency as the weather gets colder.

"It probably started off as a viral infection like COVID or influenza," said Dr. Saad. "We don't really test for it because we're treating the acute bacterial infection, which is something that we commonly see during influenza season."