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SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS JULY 2011 www.securitysystemsnews.com NEWS 9 Major healthcare provider turns to analytics By Leischen Stelter EDMONTON, Alberta—Alberta Health Services is the single healthcare provider for 3.7 mil- lion people living in the province of Alberta, Canada. But security services at its 1,100 sites, which are spread out over 662-kilome- ters (411 miles), were far from equal. “Why should urban cen- ters be getting excellent security services, while rural centers have to rely on law enforcement?” said Gregory Smith, director of enter- prise security systems for Alberta Health Services. Prior to 2008, security was managed at the local level or regional level, but the govern- ment decided to create one cen- tral region. For physical security, this meant trying to integrate 1,100 sites into one central loca- tion. “Our goal is to provide a standardized model of security service delivery throughout the province,” said Smith. Integrating legacy technology was the greatest challenge, said Smith, considering some sites were recording to VHS while other locations had high-end IP solutions. The hospital began migrating its access control sys- tem based on geography. In the northern part of the province, healthcare centers use a Lenel platform, whereas the southern areas use AMAG. Currently, the healthcare pro- vider has 2,500 video surveillance cameras in place. All the video sur- veillance and security systems are managed at the Province Security Communication Center. “We cen- trally manage the whole system, but individual sites have access to their video and they can look at the video on a monitor,” Smith said. The hospital uses Genetec’s Omnicast platform to manage its video system. It’s also using a mix- ture of camera manufacturers, but Smith said they are in the process of standardizing their cameras as well. For its small- to medium- size locations, the healthcare cen- ter uses VideoIQ cameras, which include video analytics technology. “We operate on a dark-screen premise. No human can moni- tor 2,000 cameras,” he said. The massive scale of the system means that the security department has to rely on technology, analytics for one, to monitor sites. Opera- tors are alerted to duress alarms or door sensor alarms and the system will automatically start streaming video from the appro- priate camera to the PSCC for evaluation. This strategy cuts down on traffic over the network and helped Smith get the buy-in from his IT department and con- vince them this system wasn’t going to hog bandwidth. In addition to standard alerts, AHS is also using video analytic capability, including facial rec- ognition capabilities. “We use that technology for wandering or missing patients,” said Smith. “If we have a video shot of that patient we can tell the analytics to search for that person and it will review all the cameras in that area and tell us the likelihood that person went through there.” In a recent incident, Smith said the analytics were able to identify a patient and track their movement. “We found them in a timely man- ner, in a matter of minutes, rather than hours or days,” he said. They are also using analytics for traffic management purposes. The analytics will identify and alert staff when a car is in an emer- gency area or no-parking zone for too long, he said. In addition, facilities use object-left-behind features to identify backpacks or other objects left in sensitive areas of the hospital for a certain length of time. While the hospital is only using the VideoIQ solution in smaller settings, about 12 cameras per site, they are currently in the sec- ond year of a three-year plan of a significantly bigger deployment. ANALYTICS see page 11 1:15 PM Any incidents? Effective outdoor video surveillance protects what you value most, alerts you to unexpected events and can even trigger appropriate response. But the cameras that achieve it must endure intense sunshine, heavy rain and strong winds - and still deliver usable results. Axis outdoor cameras are exceptionally easy to install, which saves valuable time and minimizes maintenance. They withstand extreme weather conditions, and offer superb image quality. AXIS Q6034-E PTZ Dome Network Camera: IP66 and NEMA 4X-rated casing, 18x optical zoom, HDTV 720p with 16:9 field of view, day/night, H.264, Power over Ethernet, Arctic Temperature Control, and much more. Because your surveillance system needs to deliver indisputable evidence in the form of clear, crisp video images – even in the toughest environments. Get the Axis picture. Stay one step ahead. Visit www.axis.com/outdoor Read more with your smartphone 1:15 PM NOTHING TO REPORT