Security for High-Risk Wanderers

What security precautions are in place to ensure residents who are at risk of wandering are safe?

Residents who are considered high-risk wanderers are required to wear a white security alarm bracelet at all times. Elevators will not respond or move when a resident with a white security alarm bracelet gets on. The doors will not close and an alarm will sound. A Sunnybrook access card must be used to bypass this security feature by either staff or a family member. If the resident is alone, he or she must be assisted off the elevator and back to his or her unit. 

As an added safety precaution, elevators in K and L wings will not go the basement level without a Sunnybrook access card. The only exceptions are K-wing East elevators #5 and #6, which go to the basement to allow for residents to go to the Blythwood Club and underground to the main hospital.

Further security precautions include: When a resident wearing a security alarm bracelet is too close to any of the five main exterior doors in either K or L wings, the doors will automatically lock and a local alarm will sound at the doorway. At this time the resident should be redirected away from the exit door and if necessary returned to their nursing unit. 

If a resident with a security bracelet attempts to exit through an open main doorway, the local alarm will ring louder and an alarm will also ring on LGSE or LGSW (for the L-wing exit doors) or on K1W (for the K-wing exit doors). Staff members from these units, as well as the resident’s home unit, will assist in responding to the alarm and to the area. 

Staff or family members escorting a resident who is wearing a security alarm bracelet outside of the Veterans Centre must use a Sunnybrook access card to bypass the alarms on the exit doors. Family members may obtain their own access card from the Sunnybrook Patients Accounts office in K-wing (416-480-6100 Ext. 3100.) There is a $10.00 deposit that is refundable when the card is returned.