Keeping Patients and Employees Safe At Hospital Campuses
Keeping Patients and Employees Safe At Hospital Campuses
What services are necessary for a safe, healthy city? One might think about police, fire departments, an efficient sanitation and postal office — and, of course, quick, safe access to medical care. Hospitals and healthcare facilities must be easy to get to, and, especially in emergencies, safe havens for those who need care.
A good hospital also needs to be a safe hospital, and though no legitimate patient should ever be turned away, hospital administrators still must be conscious about security. On any given day, a healthcare facility might see hundreds of visitors.
According to a Hospital Security Survey, 82% of hospital administrators reported that maintaining security has become more challenging. Some of the issues that arose included rising numbers in violent Emergency Department incidents, assaults against staff, and trespassing.
A security system is crucial to protecting patients, employees, and property.
Hospitals can be particularly complex in regards to security, since there is often one or multiple main entrances, along with many other alternative entry sites for emergency vehicles, patients with disabilities, etc. One facility may have multiple buildings and multiple parking lots spread out across a large area.
Deploying Flock Safety Cameras At A Hospital
This was one of the challenges for the Security Manager of a large California healthcare facility. The facility hosts hundreds of patients and employees each day. The Manager is responsible for the safety of them all, working in tandem with the local police department.
Based on a recommendation from local police, who were already using Flock Safety’s license plate reading camera system, the Security Manager decided to test how the ALPR cameras would work for the facility.
Protecting Patients and Property
Flock Safety has helped the security team reinforce patient and employee safety. The custom Hot List feature, which allows approved security personnel to receive an alert when certain known vehicles enter the property, has been useful several times.
In one instance, a custom Hot List alert picked up an individual with a restraining order against him for attempted kidnapping, who was seeking to enter the facility where his child was being born. The feature is also employed when hospital employees face threats from former patients.
In addition to the proactive situations, Flock is used to investigate crime that has already occurred. For example, the facility was seeing several cases of catalytic converter theft in its multiple parking lots.
“We had a traditional camera, but we were never able to capture a plate at night time. When we got Flock, we were able to get the plate, so we put it into Flock, got a hit a few days later, and captured the suspects in the act of taking a catalytic converter,” said the Security Manager.
With Flock Safety, healthcare facility security teams and local police can truly work in tandem to maintain the safe, welcoming environment that a hospital should embody.
