Dec 30, 2014

Many elderly people take up residence at a senior center either when they are not able to live independently anymore or when they desire the company of people their age. Either way, there’s a few things homes for the elderly need to deliver on, and one of those is security. When people send a loved one to a care center, they should have a reasonable expectation that that person will live in optimal safety – and won’t have to worry about things like theft of personal property. In order to guarantee a top-of-the-line level of protection, senior centers have a responsibility to institute wireless video surveillance solutions.

Surveillance solutions provide protection and sense of security for residents and families
In Scranton, Pennsylvania in October 2013, a man broke into the city’s West Side Senior Center and proceeded to take a TV and a few computers, according to WNEP 16. Apart from the property that was stolen, the presence of an intruder posed a potential threat to the residents of the center. Fortunately, the senior center had an important resource at its disposal to help in the hunt for the suspect: surveillance cameras that recorded his criminal activities.

But having wireless surveillance for a nursing home doesn’t just help capture criminals after the fact – it can also play a significant role in deterring people from committing illegal acts in the first place. If a potential thief knows he or she will be under surveillance, that person will likely think twice before targeting the establishment. When it comes to the elderly and their senior centers, that can mean the difference between feeling safe or at risk.

The presence of security cameras in senior centers can also draw attention to crimes that might not otherwise be registered as such. In Willoughby, Ohio, for instance, a purse went missing last year at an area senior center. Had there been no video evidence of what had happened, perhaps people would have assumed that the purse was simply misplaced. But thanks to video surveillance from the center, authorities could know positively that a man entered the building, snatched the purse and left.

Monitoring seniors with surveillance isn’t only a crime prevention solution
The presence of real-time monitoring equipment in facilities for the elderly plays a role behind keeping crime at bay. It can also help to save lives. At the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for instance, nurses usean advanced real-time surveillance system to keep tabs on the health of senior citizens spread across five different states.

These seniors aren’t all in group homes – some of them remain in their personal dwellings. But the monitoring system – which relies on motion and humidity sensors, among other things – ensures that whether the elderly people are in a facility or in their home, their health will be kept track of by people who can provide assistance in an emergency scenario. But as Jacci Nickell, Good Samaritan Society’s vice president of development and operation delivery systems, pointed out, having the monitoring technology in place is only part of the reason why it’s successful.

“Unless you gather, integrate and interpret that data in a meaningful way to the client and to their formal and informal caregivers, a sensor hanging on a wall isn’t going to help anyone,” Nickell said. “It’s what you do with that data, and how you optimize wellbeing.”

All senior centers need to take the necessary steps not only to implement monitoring technology, but also to leverage that technology in an analytical way that promotes positive steps toward better security. When it comes to monitoring technology that’s geared toward these kind of actionable findings, there’s no better choice than Firetide.