DVTel provides Wisconsin children’s hospital with state-of-the-art video surveillance

DVTel's flexible and innovative video surveillance provides security at children's hospital of Wisconsin

DVTel, Inc., multiple award-winning market leader in the development and delivery of intelligent security solutions over IP networks, today announced that Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is utilising the DVTel intelligent Security Operations Center (iSOC) to provide comprehensive security for their growing hospital complex and to support efforts to constantly improve and streamline patient care. Innovative Systems, Inc. has been working with the hospital to design, install, and upgrade the system over a six-year project timeframe.

In early 2002, Mike Thiel, Director of Security Services for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, had a vision of a flexible, future-proof video surveillance platform that could accommodate the hospital's highly ambitious growth plans, incorporate existing infrastructure and hardware, deliver superior security, and more. Thiel explained: "The Security Department is really undergoing an evolution of being an agent of change in supporting an organisation growing at a breakneck speed. We want to be the trusted source of safety and emergency management within the health system, so our department needs to be out front of where the growth is going, we need to have a seat at the design table, and we need to be seen as more than just security."

The hospital complex sees 8,000-10,000 visitors a day. The rapidly growing IP video surveillance system comprises over 250 cameras installed in five existing buildings and parking structures in the complex. An additional 80 cameras are being installed in the new construction of a 12-story tower scheduled to open in Spring 2009. Cameras record on motion at 15 fps. Newer cameras will record at a higher 2 CIF resolution. All camera data as well as other security information is managed from the new Security Operations Center equipped with multiple workstations featuring 42-inch LCD screens.

Thiel wants surveillance deeper into his facilities to provide a more comprehensive surveillance picture of the hospital's large campus

In addition to the cameras employed for security surveillance, Children's Hospital is on the cutting edge of using the DVTel platform for a highly innovative purpose.

"We are creating a virtual Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capability," said Thiel. "We are installing 72 DVTel PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras in our intensive care rooms that will enable physicians and other healthcare staff located elsewhere in the hospital complex to observe and zoom in to see what's happening in each patient room. The cameras will have intercom capabilities so there will be two-way visual and audio interaction. This is very exciting to be using the same DVTel platform to enhance patient care and yet still maintain complete patient confidentiality." Cameras in patient rooms will not record to ensure privacy and the video data travels over a separate network while still managed by the DVTel iSOC.

Thiel continued: "We did not even know about the concept of ‘telemedicine' when we chose the DVTel platform. Change is constant, so it's impossible to predict the future. We could predict that we had to have a platform that is flexible, agile, and scalable.

DVTel has given us this level of versatility. We've always made the case that we support the hospital's core mission, now we're able to provide our tool to physicians and put them right there in the room with the patient."

We had to have a platform that is flexible, agile, and scalable. DVTel has given us this level of versatility.

Current camera coverage is in the standard areas-perimeters, entrances, parking facilities - but with the new construction, Thiel wants surveillance deeper into his facilities to monitor all pharmacy areas and to provide a more comprehensive surveillance picture of the hospital's large campus. The future for Thiel and his team will continue to be exciting and challenging. A recent theft in the hospital taught him that: "We want better and better image quality, and the good news is we have the platform for it. Success for us has to do with the interface. We have to have the capability for a large number of people to get meaningful information from what is essentially a data collection system. Three years after initial deployment, we're still learning how to get more out of the system. We learn new things every day and that's the fun part."

In addition to video surveillance further into each facility and throughout the campus, and cameras used to improve patient care, Thiel is looking to achieve detailed image resolution in order to ensure excellent facial recognition for all visitors and "casino level" detail in pharmacy areas. Future plans also call for surveillance of roadways to manage traffic volumes and integrating access control onto the DVTel platform.