"We are a public facility that needs to be hospitable and accessible to the community on the one hand, but on the other hand, we see changes in such growing communities as ours where crime becomes more of an issue. We are committed to ensuring the safety of both our patients and employees," says the Executive Vice President at a hospital in New York State. "It's a vulnerable population with many of the patients being elderly or psychiatric, and we have to protect them at the same time as their loved ones who visit, and our own personnel who come and go at all times of the day and night."
Challenges: This hospital in upstate New York has an active psychiatric ward, an alcohol and drug detoxification unit, a busy Emergency Room (ER), Maternity Ward, Operation Room (OR), on-site Pharmacy, cardiac and urology departments, a cancer treatment centre, hospital vans, and a heliport. All require monitoring for protection against vandalism, disruptive and violent behaviour, the threat of abductions, and theft of drugs or expensive medical equipment. Elderly patients can wander astray, and active parking lots also require attention. Old analogue surveillance solutions were different in each ward, not connected to each other, time-consuming in their operation, and expensive to expand for new facilities or changing needs.
