EasyLobby Visitor Management Protects Patients, Staff and Visitors at Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities

Hospitals and healthcare facilities need to professionally manage guests entering the lobby, account for who is entering the facility and screen for unwanted visitors.

Because hospitals typically have high numbers of visitors, the visitor system has to accommodate rapid guest check in and not be obtrusive or cumbersome when processing guests.

Integration of visitor management with other hospital systems is also an important consideration. These hospital systems include:

•  HL7 for real-time patient feeds: Lobby attendants are able to view real-time patient admissions and discharges, allowing them to match the patient that the visitor is seeing.

•  Status Blue: Includes the list of the approved vendors for the healthcare facility so that the lobby attendant will know whether an arriving vendor has been pre-approved by the facility.

•  Access Control Integration: Contractors, temporary staff and volunteers can be provided with access to locked doors controlled by the facility’s access control system, allowing these individuals to enter areas without the need of being escorted by an employee

Many hospitals guard against unwanted visitors by using their visitor management system to alert them to individuals on their internal Watch List and/or against each states sex offender database. This feature will automatically alert the lobby attendants to any visitor on the list within seconds of check in.

Other visitor management features for hospitals include alerts such as maximum visitor alert to specific patients to monitor and control the maximum number of guests visiting a patient at any time, and durable visitor badges that include barcodes to allow frequent visitors to check in to the building with a simple swipe of their badge after the first visit.

EasyLobby Secure Visitor Management (SVM) has many features designed specifically for hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Learn more by registering for a free, personalized web demo at www.easylobby.com

—Contributed by Easy Lobby

Health Department Access Solution Features Extensive Integration

The Palm Beach County Health Department is a service organization responsible for the health of more than a million residents in Palm Beach County, Fla. It shares responsibility for primary care of the medically indigent population of the county with the private sector. The Department has served as a model agency for the State of Florida and many other states throughout the country. For more than 50 years it has led the way with innovative programs that include free immunizations for children and parental education in childcare. Additionally, the Department monitors and tests for potential epidemics, and conducts land, air and water monitoring.

Construction of the new PBCHD Administration Building was completed in late 2009. The new building, which is located in downtown West Palm Beach, includes more than 80 doors, 5 elevators and an RFID Gate Entry System. When specifying the access control system, PBCHD required that the system must integrate with its CCTV, badging, visitor management and intrusion detection systems, and must be compatible with all existing security equipment. As the security integrator for the project, Protect Video, Inc. of Boynton Beach selected RS2 Technologies of Munster, Indiana, and its patented Access It!® Universal software because of its ability to meet all the integration and compatibility requirements and to provide additional innovative features such as interactive maps. The installation also includes a live monitoring station where onsite security personnel can monitor both the CCTV and access control systems to ensure a safe environment for both staff and customers.

Healthcare is a significant market for RS2. In addition to PBHCD, RS2 access control systems can be found in hospitals and medical facilities in North Carolina, California, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and several other states.

For more information, call RS2 at (877) 682-3532 or visit www.rs2tech.com

—Contributed by RS2 Technologies

The city of Phoenix recently upgraded emergency communications infrastructure at two parking garages in downtown Phoenix. One of the garages is open to public parking and is located on the intersection of West Washington Street and 3rd Avenue. The second garage is reserved for City of Phoenix employees.

BCD Voltage Systems was commissioned to replace the existing telecommunications wiring along with emergency phones. City of Phoenix selected Talk-A-Phone’s line of phone line powered emergency phones for this installation.

Emergency phones were replaced throughout seven floors of the public parking garage. BCD Voltage Systems did a walk-through of the client facility and identified improved placement of the emergency phones for higher visibility and accessibility of the product. Additional phones were strategically placed close to stairwells.

The existing system had to be kept operational, which presented its unique challenges during the installation. BCD Voltage Systems crew pulled the new wiring in the same conduit as the old system with great care. The installation of new emergency phones and wiring took place while the old system was still up and running.

In many cases, new conduit had to be run to the desired location of the phone. “Our biggest challenge was maintaining the integrity of the existing system, maintaining a level of security and operation for the City of Phoenix within that system while we were systematically replacing that system,” commented Dan Melsek, President and COO of BCD Voltage Systems.

The emergency phone calls are routed to the city’s central monitoring station, which is operated by the City of Phoenix Police. The monitoring station is staffed 24/7, 365 days of the year. An emergency phone call will always get a human voice.

The City of Phoenix central monitoring station is also equipped with Talk-A-Lert, a software product which allows an operator to immediately identify the location of the caller, including the floor and the corner of the specific garage they are in. Talk-A-Lert also verifies the accessibility of all emergency phones on schedule and reports any discrepancies in real time.

For BCD Voltage Systems, simplicity and reliability of the product played an important role. As a part owner of a veteran security integration business, Dan Melsek shared his post-installation perspective, “I don’t think we’ve had any callbacks at all for those two garage installs. This has been a highly dependable product.”

For more information, visit www.talkaphone.com

   —Contributed by Talk-A-Phone

CoxHealth, a long-time advocate of electronic surveillance, uses more than 300 video cameras to monitor its vast campus. But gaps in coverage and archiving constraints of its multi-DVR analog systems made it difficult to review weekly incident reports and quickly gather forensic video.

CoxHealth teamed up with Springfield-based integrator NetWatch to design an updated system that was easy to use, control and scale. And, of course, the system needed to be effective.

With IP, the hospital has centralized surveillance and can locate incidents much more easily. Previously, users had several DVRs that required individual login to view and review footage. Now security personnel benefit from an enterprise class system controlled by OnSSI’s Ocularis NetDVMS recorder with Ocularis Client Lite VMS.

NetWatch installed 40 network cameras from Axis Communications to help protect the parking structure. Seven Axis PTZ network cameras guard garage entrances and exits. The remaining cameras – all fixed dome – cover ramps and parking bays.

At the ambulatory surgery center, NetWatch focused fixed domes on building entrances, exits and walkways. Inside, the integrator deployed easy-to-install AXIS M3011 Fixed Dome Network Cameras to monitor hallways, sensitive document storage areas and medication dispensaries.

“Hospitals can be a target for narcotics theft,” shares Joe Rushing, director of public safety and security for CoxHealth. “So we’ve put cameras at a number of key distribution points where there is a lot of foot traffic.”

The video clarity is so detailed that security can compare the dosage being entered on a computer to the actual amount being dispensed. H.264 compression allows the hospital to affordably archive three to four weeks of video typically needed for internal narcotics investigations.

Responsive customer support also played a key role in the solution. “We always get great support from Axis,” explains NetWatch’s Matt Lackrone. “We rarely have to call, but when we do, we get total resolution turnaround in less than 24 hours. I don’t think anyone else staffs technical support quite like Axis.”

For more information, visit www.axis.com

   —Contributed by Axis Communications

RockfordMemorial Hospital, Rockford, ILL, the community’s first hospital, opened its doors in 1885. Over the years, the organization built its reputation on its quality doctors, leading-edge technology, comprehensive services and outstanding facilities.

Today, Rockford Memorial Hospital is a 396-licensed-bed health care facility focused on one mission: “Superior care. Every day. For all our patients.” Delivering superior care has added facets when it comes to providing a safe, secure and welcoming environment for patients, staff and visitors.

Video surveillance plays a critical role in supporting the mission of the healthcare organization. Rockford Memorial’s commitment to this mission required a strategic upgrade to existing video security equipment and a pathway for improved video surveillance and management of the video. Installed DVRs were reaching their end of life capacity with no means of repair or replacement. Budgetary requirements prohibited the hospital from completely replacing more than 200 cameras and the added requirement for new IP technology called for migration from analog to digital while preserving existing assets.

Rock River Service of Rockford, IL, a Certified Reseller for Salient Systems, worked with Rockford Memorial to develop a strategic implementation of Complete View video management software and servers to support existing analog cameras and allow for installation of IP cameras in appropriate locations, providing safe environments in the ER, parking garages, common lobbies, hallways and entrances. Rock River was able to meet the budgetary specifications and provide a total solution with a clear pathway for the future.

Rockford Memorial’s dedication to patient satisfaction and security, their second-to-none expertise and quality care will continue to make them the region’s finest health care provider.

For more information, visit www.salientsys.com

   —Provided by Salient Systems