Page 32 - Security Today, May/June 2021

“The team wanted a unified security platform which could help them become more efficient at securing the entire organization from one central location.”
A PLATFORM THAT BOOSTS OPERATIONS
Lee Health has experienced significant operational improvements since installing Security Center. For instance, the number of liability claims has drastically reduced. The team can now quickly and eas- ily locate and retrieve video evidence to support or disprove claims. Savings have also come from maximizing staff resources by allow- ing nurses to virtually monitor patients who have high fall risks.
“Instead of paying one sitter to watch one patient, our nurses can monitor a minimum of four patients using the web client. So far, this virtual sitter program has amassed a return on invest- ment more than $7,000 per week, per unit,” Owens said.
Lee Health also provides video access to the construction team so that they can uphold infection containment protocols during renovations. This helps them comply with state and federal man- dates that require hospitals to minimize contaminants such as dust or debris to avoid putting patients at risk of infection.
“We are required to have construction areas separated from the rest of the facility. Our construction team now deploys their own WI-FI cameras as needed and monitors the doors in those areas to validate whether there’s an intrusion or if someone has broken protocol,” Owens said.
Genetec SipeliaTM, the intercom module of Security Center, has helped the team maintain exceptional levels of customer ser- vice. At the Gulf Coast Medical Center, for example, intercom stations are available within a massive parking garage. That way if someone requires assistance or needs a golf-cart ride to the hos- pital entrance, the team can receive the call directly within Secu- rity Center and begin a conversation to extend help.
“The beauty of Sipelia intercom is that if an operator is busy and cannot respond to a call, the system will automatically for- ward the call over to an operator in a different facility for immedi- ate response,” Owens said.
IMPROVING THE FLOW OF PEOPLE
WITH ACCESS CONTROL
The Security Center SynergisTM access control system is used to secure various doors throughout the sites. There are a few locations where card readers have also been added to elevators and specialty equipment. This helps physicians move faster through buildings by prioritizing their ride in an elevator cab and ensures that only those who are qualified to use certain machines can access them. Doctors and staff only need one card to access all the different facilities.
“We set up our cardholder groups based on discipline and responsibilities, allowing our staff to easily access our facilities. Many physicians are on call, so it’s important that they can get in and out of our buildings when required,” Owens said.
To facilitate parking for physicians, vehicle license plate num- bers are registered as credentials within Security Center. Instead of fumbling for cards, physicians can drive up to parking gates where ALPR cameras read the license plate number, validate the credential, and allow them to enter.
“Having to roll down a window and swipe a card at the park- ing gate caused delays. Vehicle throughput has increased tremen-
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dously since installing the AutoVuTM ALPR cameras. Our first cameras were installed at the Golisano Children’s Hospital,” Ow- ens said. “The doctors loved it so much that we installed the same solution at Gulf Coast Medical Center parking as well.”
Lee health also uses the ALPR system to flag vehicles that have a history of trespassing, and to gain a better understanding of how patients, staff, and guests are using their parking lots.
THE EFFICIENT WAY TO MANAGE EVIDENCE
Lee Health facilities are always bustling. That’s why the security team is making the most of the many time-saving features in Secu- rity Center. Recently, they began using Genetec ClearanceTM—a digital evidence management system that works with Security Center—to facilitate the gathering and sharing of video evidence.
Now, operators can easily create cases, import video, add notes about the event and share content with authorized persons, via email. According to Owens, “One thing that we struggled with is ‘what do we do with all this video? And how do we get this video to our relevant business partners?’ Genetec Clearance allows us to dictate storage for every incident that happens within the organization. So, if it’s a slip-trip-fall event, we’ll set a mini- mum retention time for that video within Clearance. It acts as our central repository for all long-term video archives. We can then easily share the video with our internal teams or external agencies in an efficient and secure manner.”
While the security team is busy safeguarding the enterprise against physical threats, Security Center alerts them to cyber risks. “Security Center has a long history of being secure from a cyber-standpoint and that was part of the draw, especially for our Information Systems team. One complaint that we had concern- ing some of our legacy equipment was that it wasn’t up to mod- ern cybersecurity standards. This solution allows us to close those gaps and fulfill the requirements of our IS partners,” Owens said.
The monitoring feature has been extremely helpful for the se- curity team’s system maintenance. Owens also said, “With our previous system, we never had a full picture of the issues or op- portunities to improve our system. We now have the ability to in- stantly check what devices might be having issues and run health history reports to address any patterns.”
EVERY SITE UP AND RUNNING
Moving forward, Lee Health is working towards getting every site up and running on the platform. There are currently more than 700 cameras and 325 connected doors, and those numbers are expected to double within the next year. After that, the security team plans to centralize the monitoring of all sites from one loca- tion. They will also be adding a mobile ALPR system to better enforce parking regulations at one of the hospitals.
“In today’s world, obtaining five different security systems is ineffective; our security needs are beyond that. With this unified security platform, we have many well-integrated solutions and options, which are more efficient for our users and more cost- effective for our organization,” said David LaRose, CHPA, CPP system director of security at Lee Health. “By bringing all these technologies together, our team can achieve
maximum consistency and efficiency in fulfill- ing our security objective— to provide a com- fortable and safe environment for the best pa- tient outcomes.”
Despina Stamatelos is the product marketing manager at Genetec Inc.
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