A hospital plays it safe!

When Thorsten Stolpe, who is the Technical Operations Director for the RKK (Regionalverbund kirchlicher Krankenhäuser) hospital complex in Freiburg/Waldkirch, talks about security, his voice resonates with concern. He’s concerned about all the challenges hospitals have to master for their patients and staff which go above and beyond the standards defined in the legal provisions. Worrying trends are emerging at hospitals, which are sensitive environments that need special protection at the best of times. For example, the fact that emergency room personnel are increasingly subject to attacks by aggressive patients. ‟We have to call the police an average of once a month,” says Stolpe. ‟Time and again, egregious physical assaults on our staff members have occurred.”

Theft has also been on the rise. Intruders try to steal drugs, or to break into locked cabinets and vending machines. Expensive medical instruments such as endoscopes – which cost €30,000 to €80,000 apiece – are favorite targets for thieves across the country. Newspapers like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported last year that ultrasound equipment, monitors, and diagnostic systems disappear at many German hospitals. ‟This unfortunate trend is a major problem for us too,” says Stolpe. Fortunately, Bosch Building Solutions provides solutions to all of these challenges from a single source. The RKK is something of a pioneer in this area: More Bosch security components have been installed at its three-member medical facility in Freiburg/Waldkirch than in any other hospital in Germany.

Thorsten Stolpe, Head of Construction and Technical Operations for the RKK hospital complex since January 2000, and who heads a team of 29, starts by explaining the characteristic features of the hospital on a tour he gives to Michael Grom, Bosch Sales Representative for Freiburg and Area Sales Manager. ‟Our complex is run by the church, and the focus of our work is on people and human relations,” he says, pausing to greet Sister Helene at the entrance. A member of the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Vincent de Paul, she is working at the reception today – the sisters are a unique presence at the RKK, and one that many patients appreciate.

The hospital’s reception area boasts all sorts of Bosch technology. The ceiling has smoke detectors from the AVENAR detector 4000 model series, along with a 360-degree camera that keeps the situation at the entrance under surveillance. Its images converge on a screen in a separate room behind the reception counter. Moving on to the ICU, it’s especially important that patients immobilized by severe conditions or injuries can still be evacuated as rapidly as possible in the event of an emergency. ‟There’s not a single corner or corridor in the hospital that does not have a fire alarm,” says Stolpe, pointing to the control unit that is activated to send doctors and nurses a corresponding alert on their cell phones. The RKK hospital complex has around 8,000 Bosch fire alarms – automatic, manual, and couplers – 3,500 of them in the Saint Joseph clinic.

In addition, internal and external emergency call systems from Bosch have been installed to counter the aforementioned increase in break-ins and theft. A complex alarm system from the Bosch MAP 5000 family protects the main pharmacy, which has long, floor-to-ceiling shelves holding medication for 14 clinics and which is also able to produce medications for individual patient when needed.

‟We’ve invested around €1.56 million in security systems over the past five years,” says Stolpe. A technical operations director, however, always needs to think ahead. More investments will follow over the next two years – in video surveillance, access control, and burglar alarm systems. After all, security is of primary importance – and provides the basis for allowing the RKK hospitals to maintain their focus on people and human relations.