« Securalert gave us the peace of mind we needed for both personnel and patients.
We are completely satisfied with it’s performance. »
Diane Beauchamp
CSSS of Laval
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A bold project
THE CARTIER CENTER OF THE LAVAL YOUTH DETENTION CENTER (2004)
CONTEXT
Mr. Patrick Johnson, Security Chief, for the last three years, has been working for the Laval Youth Center for nineteen years. Mr. Johnson is responsible for the center’s security on a daily basis and knows the SECURALERT system well. The system was installed in 2004. Mr. André Bouchard, Service of Supplies Chief, for the last seven years, has been employed by the center for twenty-eight years. Mr. Bouchard was a central figure in the evaluation of various security systems and is the one responsible for choosing the SECURALERT system. The two gentlemen were met on august 30th 2006 in order to document the SECURALERT system, from its need analysis, to its setting up and finally its final assessment after two years of existence. The Cartier Center of the Laval Youth Center holds twelve units that cover three stories.
INITIAL NEED: TO IMPROVE SECURITY
From the start, the Cartier Center of the Laval Youth Center is equipped with a Radio (RF) panic button system. Because Radio (RF) waves go through walls, it is very difficult to quickly locate a person in distress. When a staff member activates his or her panic button, the area identified ranges from four to six locations. If by chance the first location is the right one, great, however the law of numbers is such that it is rather the second or the third or even the fourth location that is the correct one. This situation is unacceptable. The center needs a system that can quickly, precisely and without error, locate a person in distress and one that will guarantee personnel and clientele security.
CHALLENGE: DOES THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM EXIST?
The center is searching for a panic button system that will enable all personnel to receive help by simply pressing a button. In order to achieve this, a thorough analysis of the center’s needs is a priority.
Mr. Bouchard meets different distributors of panic buttons and evaluates the efficiency of each one of these buttons. The task is a difficult one for none of the distributors can offer the type of instrument that the center is looking for. After many months, Mr. Bouchard comes to the conclusion that the Radio (RF) system is inadequate in filling the center’s needs and that only the Ultrasound (US) system seems to have that potential. Finally, NORDICOM is selected to undergo the pilot project so as to demonstrate, without a doubt, that the system functions. Mr. Bouchard appreciated NORDICOM’S understanding of the center’s needs and its precise explanations related to both the advantages and limits of its SECURALERT system.
SOLUTION: A THIRTY SECONDS INTERVENTION WITHOUT ERROR
Following effective teamwork between NORDICOM, a local installment expert, and the center’s appointed personnel, the system reached its objective. The majority of the center will be covered. A total of one hundred and thirty receptors were installed in strategic areas and more than a hundred panic buttons are available. The system is a practical one for whenever a staff member presses on the panic button, the alarm is transmitted to four locations. A bell and light, placed on a luminous board, indicate the alarm and following this, the person in charge transmits the alarm to the intervening team by the intermediary of portable radios. In a situation where the person in charge cannot transmit the alarm within a delay of a few seconds, one of the other three posts takes over and transmits it.
RESULTS AND BENEFITS: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The Cartier Center of the Laval Youth Center claims to receive approximately three hundred and fifty calls of distress per year. Today, the word panic button as been replaced by emergency button. The intervening personnel use the emergency button during aggressions of course, but also to signal a wounded person and/or one that is in trouble as well as to prevent a high risk situation from degenerating, etc…once the system was installed and well understood by the intervening personnel, the system functioned and was rendered highly satisfactory, it is very appreciated by all those using it. In the past, all sorts of maneuvers were tried to replace the intervening team when it was slow to answer the distress calls but now, within seconds following the activation of the emergency button, the call for help is heard: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
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