Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

Ben Smith, M.D., clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine and medical director of the Central Vermont Medical Center Emergency Department

(JUNE 17, 2024) Ben Smith, M.D., clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine and medical director of the Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) Emergency Department, commented to WCAX-TV about new security procedures at the Berlin hospital.

While security won’t stop people who are having an emergency, patients and visitors to the Emergency Department will now have to go through a metal detector, and they will need to bring all their belongings in clear bags that will be available at the entrance. The UVM Health Network says the aim of the procedures is to help fight violence and improve safety.

In the first 10 days since the security was added, hospital officials say, multiple guns and dozens of knives were discovered; however, in most cases the weapons were not meant as a threat. (Items found during the screening are not confiscated; they are secured in lockers until the owners leave.)

“It’s just an unfortunate consequence, I guess, of where our society is at now that this is needed,” Smith says. “But the fact is that it really is desperately needed. We need to have a zero tolerance for lethal weapons showing up in our places of healing.”