We all know loved ones or friends who have had a baby or had to prepare themselves to place a family member into a senior living community. In either situation, as human beings, our instincts take over to ensure our family members are protected and kept safe. Project installations in hospitals and communities should be approached in the same manner: ensuring the protection and safety of everyone involved.

When a vendor is selected to work in your facility or community, proper respect of all residents, staff, and visitors is as important as the product or system you purchased.

Regardless of how long a vendor is scheduled for the installation, one week or two months, the vendor must have a comprehensive understanding of the rules and regulations while its staff works in the environment of care.

The administrative and nursing staff should only have to focus on their patients and residents without worrying about the installer impeding their level of care or services.

In order to achieve a seamless project installation, three key proper pre-planning and installation standards should be established prior to the start date of the installation:

1. Pre-installation meetings should be scheduled with all the key personnel that the project will impact. This meeting will allow for all participants to understand the installation sequence of operations, provide input, and ask questions.
2. The vendor should have an assigned project manager to manage and facilitate the project and ensure the seamless workflow occurs with open communication.
3. The vendor should have installers and project managers who work only in the environment of care. This alone will establish the vendor knowledge base required to work in your facility, which includes infection control standards.

Every great salesperson should be followed by an even greater installation project manager. These two roles work hand-in-hand to complete a vendor selection, and that’s exactly why RF Technologies offers both. Our job isn’t to just sell you a system – we want to ensure your system is installed seamlessly, promptly and correctly, without interfering with workflow or those under your care.

So, the next time you’re ready to select a vendor, make sure you inquire about the installation process and vendor installation standards.

By the RF Technologies Installation Team

Entire communities, parents, teachers and administrators are all actively considering the challenge: How do we safely protect our students and staff?

Administrations are considering how well they are currently prepared to respond to strangers on campus, weapons in school, arguments, verbal threats and bullying. Several are proposing adding fixed panic buttons so front desk staff can signal a distress call. 

However, a mobile panic alarm solution allows staff members to immediately and discreetly call for security assistance, regardless of where they are on campus. A mobile panic alarm can make a big difference in an emergency situation when a fixed panic button may be out of reach. As soon as a teacher presses his/her personal, mobile pendant, the staff member's name, photo and real-time location is shared with appropriate security responders, all through Wi-Fi technology.

What are the top five reasons to consider a mobile panic alarm solution?

1. Increase the Amount of Responders: Some schools leverage the Principal or Vice Principal as their primary onsite security responder. Even schools with School Resource Officers (SROs) can’t monitor an entire campus at once. With a mobile panic alarm, every single staff member is now the eyes and ears of the responders, and a key member of the school security team.
2. Address Incidents Prior to Escalation: Violent situations often occur after suspicious or unusual behavior. However, we’ve all been taught to never dial 9-1-1 unless we’re sure there’s an emergency. Mobile panic buttons can be pressed the moment a staff member sees a security threat. So responders can arrive quickly, before a situation escalates.
3. Complement Video Systems: Video surveillance systems are excellent tools, but with teachers wearing panic buttons, coverage can now go beyond the areas typically captured in video, including classrooms, offices, restrooms and locker rooms. If a school integrates video and mobile panic alarm solutions, video monitors can focus on an alarming pendant’s location to identify the threat and coordinate a response.
4. Enable District-level Visibility: A panic alarm system enables district-level personnel to see when alarms occur, when they’re acknowledged, and when they’re cleared. Alarms may even be escalated at the district-level, indicating the incident requires a 9-1-1 response.
5. Deter Violent Behavior: With panic buttons, a school’s staff becomes aligned to security which can itself help deter violence. There is an expectation and responsibility for teachers and staff to be more aware of the school’s environment: to be on the lookout for potential security situations and threats around them.

The current state of school security is not enough. A mobile panic alarm system, like our Help Alert^® Wireless Staff Duress Solution, is part of an overall message that every teacher and staff member can make regarding school safety: violence in our schools is never okay.

By Bryan Tracey, Vice President of Technology – Help Alert

Business relationships aren’t so different from our personal relationships.

We want someone we can trust and rely on. Someone who has the answers if we don’t. And someone who will be there if we need help, even if it’s the middle of the night.

Selecting a senior care partner, especially one for something as critical as safety and security of your residents, can be a challenging commitment.

To help, here are five key factors you should look for when selecting a new senior living safety and security partner:

1. Longevity: Seek out a company that’s a proven market leader with years (even decades!) of experience keeping residents safe in senior living communities. An established business has proven its endurance. So in short, they know what they’re doing, and their expertise means you’ll get the right solution for your community.
2. Quality products: Look for products that are discreet, dignified and promote resident mobility and a home-like environment. When combined with industry longevity, you’ve found a company that listens to customers and adapts its products to the changing needs of the senior living market.
3. Dedicated in-house sales, engineering, and quote & configuration teams: When your sales process is completed in-house, you get a more accurate quote, which means you’ll have fewer changes, additions and unexpected budget costs after installation.
4. Nationwide installation and service technicians: If future service and maximum system life is important to you, then a network of service techs should be important to you, too. Their goal should be to serve you: bringing you timely service and system installation.
5. 24/7/365 phone support: Make sure that, no matter what time of day or night, you can call your solution provider for help. Some companies even offer remote support. They can troubleshoot and diagnose a system issue from their computer, so you don’t have to spend money to send a service tech to your community.

In your search, don’t forget to ask questions. The more knowledge you can gather, the more likely you’ll be able to find a company, and more importantly – establish a relationship – that works for you.

By Trevor Kennedy, National Sales Director