Two animal hospitals came to Surveillance Secure to help them update their surveillance, access control, and intercom systems that had become obsolete. Town and Country Animal Hospital in Fairfax, VA, and Columbia Pike Animal Hospital in Annandale, VA, are both veterinarian practices and animal hospitals, but Columbia Pike is a 24-hour hospital that offers emergency services.
Here’s how the Surveillance Secure team helped these hospitals update their security for improved patient and staff safety.
The hospitals had video surveillance, access control, and panic alarm systems in three different buildings. Town and Country Animal Hospital is one building with multiple floors, while Columbia Pike Animal Hospital is one location with two separate buildings on campus.
However, the systems were outdated and not reliable. They wanted new systems that would work properly and help give them the control and convenience they needed. Their priority was providing staff and patient safety at the 24-hour facility.
Surveillance Secure updated each system at each hospital. Town and Country had 18 cameras, and Surveillance Secure installed three more as new spaces became available in the building.
Columbia Pike had the Surveillance Secure team take over their older, outdated system but wanted to reuse their 15 existing cameras by adding them to the Avigilon Alta video cloud system. The Surveillance Secure team also added analytics to their existing cameras for smart surveillance.
These cameras monitor the interior and exterior of the buildings. On the exterior, the entire parking lot, sidewalks, and the perimeter of the building are visible. The cameras have already been helpful as they were able to capture video to see exactly what happened when someone fell in the parking lot and when a vehicle was hit.
The interior cameras at each hospital are in place mainly for safety concerns. For example, treatment areas are monitored via surveillance to ensure employees and patients are safe. The hospitals also have 24-hour recorded surveillance of the pharmacy to monitor access to medications and keep them secure.
The panic alarms at the hospitals are in treatment areas or spaces where employees may be alone with animals or pet owners. These alarms allow staff to request assistance if anything dangerous begins to happen or a sudden medical emergency occurs.
The hospital access control systems allow management to control who can enter secure spaces within the facilities. They also control external entry doors. The system lets employees move freely between locations without keeping track of keys for every building and room. The system also prevents unauthorised access to certain rooms, such as where medication is kept, and pet owner access to the building after-hours at Town and Country.
After completing the updates for each animal hospital, Surveillance Secure has done several additional security projects for them, including adding 10 more cameras to the Columbia Pike campus.
As the facilities continue to grow, both Town and Country and Columbia Pike Animal Hospital have asked Surveillance Secure to augment their systems. They recently renovated a new building next door to the main hospital and included Avigilon Video and access control because they are so pleased with the new systems.
