For over a century, Swedish American Health System has been a cornerstone in providing healthcare to the community of Rockford, Illinois.
As part of the University of Wisconsin Health network, its medical team is dedicated to delivering quality healthcare and promoting healthier lifestyles for patients and their families. Behind the scenes, state-of-the-art security systems play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of all Swedish American medical facilities, including its satellite clinics.
Patient safety initiatives
Swedish American is committed to high standards of safety for patients, staff, and facilities, complementing its mission of healthcare excellence. Significant enhancements include the transition from Windows 7 to Windows 10, alongside compliance maintenance for operating systems.
Using Salient's CompleteView VMS with Dynamic Resolution Scaling, the security infrastructure can effectively record and store videos for a 90-day period, adapting for each facility's demands. While patient privacy is strictly upheld, enabling no recordings in treatment areas, surveillance in parking lots and common areas remains essential.
Tailored security for various departments
These custom-built servers are designed to meet the unique needs of the hospital's various departments
The updated server systems, engineered by Salient System's network experts, replace outdated technology to accommodate future security innovations. These custom-built servers are designed to meet the unique needs of the hospital's various departments and external clinics.
They leverage PowerProtect platforms, supporting video surveillance systems with continuous access and high-durability operations. According to Lapp, “The reason for the custom build is to fulfill several missions of the hospital system... The customized nature of these security solutions fulfills the unique needs of the customer.”
Meeting evolving recording demands
Swedish American Hospital's security has had to adapt to evolving video recording requirements. Security Manager Terry W. Gagliano remarked that investment in new server solutions supports the upgrade to Windows 10 and enhances recording capabilities.
“This is an inner-city hospital system, where there are different and sometimes difficult challenges,” Gagliano explained. The facilities demand ample bandwidth to record and store video for 90 days efficiently, vital for day-to-day operations in urban settings.
Reliable and durable servers
The newly implemented PowerProtect solutions ensure Swedish American achieves reliability in its surveillance operations by being adaptable for upgrades. Gagliano emphasised, "The PowerProtect solutions are engineered to accept upgrades as they are needed and as they become available." These servers, equipped with an Intel Xeon processor and up to 48 TB of storage, are crucial for a system designed for continuous, round-the-clock performance in a hospital environment.
Customised surveillance applications
Swedish American invested in approximately 40 to 45 servers, tailored for comprehensive surveillance tasks
Fulfilling varied security needs across clinics, Swedish American invested in approximately 40 to 45 servers, tailored for comprehensive surveillance tasks.
PowerPlus's dual-unit NVR rack mount furnishes the necessary processing power and storage capability, underscoring the hospital's commitment to high-performance security solutions. “Our clinics have varied and different missions, so demand for security services are different,” Gagliano noted, stressing the importance of finding tailored solutions.
Upheld standards of excellence
Swedish American Hospital's approach to security reflects its broader dedication to healthcare excellence. Though not officially recognised through awards, their emphasis on patient safety is vital. Over recent years, Swedish American has earned numerous accolades for medical quality and work environment excellence in northern Illinois. Although no specific awards exist for security achievements, the hospital ensures patients experience the highest level of safety and security.
For more than a century, Swedish American Health System, its hospital and medical facilities, have been serving the community of Rockford, IL. As a division of the University of Wisconsin Health, the medical staff has been delivering high-quality healthcare and strategies to keep patients and families healthy.
What families and patients don’t see is the world-class security systems that have been put in place at all Swedish American medical facilities and outlying satellite healthcare clinics.
Patient treatment areas
In keeping with SwedishAmerican’s mission to deliver excellence in healthcare, they also maintain the highest level of care when it comes to keeping their patients, medical staff, and facilities safe. One such effort is the migration from Windows 7 platform to Windows 10 and maintaining compliance in their OS. Utilizing Salient’s CompleteView VMS with Dynamic Resolution Scaling, the security team has more than adequate bandwidth to record and store video for 90 days at each facility.
Because the medical center offers a daycare facility, recording is ongoing, and is stored for 90 days; however, some recordings are held for as long as six months. In locations where there are privacy issues, such as patient treatment areas, no video recordings are made. Still, in spaces such as parking lots and common areas, video recording is essential.
Various hospital departments
The servers replace an obsolete system and have been engineered by Salient System network engineers to accept upgrades in security solutions as technology, and various solutions evolve. Even more important is the fact that the servers are tailormade to fit the specific needs of the various hospital departments and separate clinics.
The servers, just like the hospital, have evolved over the years. The PowerProtect platforms extend the limits of operational capabilities for video surveillance systems engineered for continuous access and durability. “The reason for the custom build is to fulfill several missions of the hospital system,” Lapp said. “There are various requirements for storage and differing requirements for recording frames per second. The customized nature of these security solutions fulfills the unique needs of the customer.”
Video recording requirements
Swedish American Hospital has video recording requirements that weren’t necessary a few years ago. Terry W. Gagliano, security manager at the hospital system, said the investment in this server solution would not only help with the upgrade to Windows 10, but it will allow greater recording capacity.
“This is an inner-city hospital system, where there are different and sometimes difficult challenges,” Gagliano said. “The clinics also are within the inner city, and we wanted to ensure that we had enough bandwidth to not only record, but to store the images that we are getting. We wanted to be able to effectively record and store video for 90 days.”
Recording and storage specifications vary at the hospital. For instance, at the child daycare center at the hospital, recording is active only during hours of operation, and storage of those images last from three to six months. Parking lots also are under constant surveillance, and storage on the servers is ongoing.
Offering continuous operation
“We’re thrilled to have these server platforms in place and working,” Gagliano said. “What we had been using is obsolete. The PowerProtect solutions are engineered to accept upgrades as they are needed and as they become available. We expect these servers to last beyond five years before we have to consider replacement.”
The servers or hybrid NVRs are a value-oriented digital video surveillance system, offering continuous operation with advanced components. They are rack-mounted, and as any end-user would expect, delivers reliability and a processing power required by mission-critical video surveillance. Because the storage of video images is important, SwedishAmerican sought a single Intel Xeon processor with 16 GB of memory, which also offered the hospital system up to 48 TB of video storage.
Video surveillance applications
“We were looking for new servers at our existing buildings, so that meant we were in the market for 40 to 45 servers,” Gagliano said. “Our clinics have varied and different missions, so demand for security services are different. When we sought customized solutions, we found exactly what we needed.”
PowerPlus is a two-unit NVR rack mount used for the installation because SwedishAmerican sought a balance between processing power, storage capacity, and redundancy for high performance in a flexible platform for its existing video surveillance applications. A hospital setting is a 24/7/365 environment, requiring a system that can withstand the rigors of continuous operation. That’s where the enhanced performance of CompleteView 20/20 comes in.
Other healthcare system
“When we started the process of replacing our servers and NVRs, we considered performance first and foremost,” Gagliano said. “It was mission-critical to have flexibility, and it was important to honour the standard of excellence already offered by SwedishAmerican Hospital.”
In recent years, SwedishAmerican has been honored in the medical professional for its commitment to quality, and it has become a gold standard for medical care of any other healthcare system in northern Illinois. The hospital has received a Top 100 Hospital Quality Award, 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare, and a Distinguished Hospital Award by J.D. Power and Associates, among many other accolades.
While there may not be an award or designation for security in the workplace, SwedishAmerican has done its best to ensure that patients are afforded the highest level of safety and security.
