Paging at Solaris Health Systems

Paging is an essential work tool for Dan Sullivan, group communications leader of Solaris Health Systems and a member of the New Jersey State First Aid Council Mobilization Team, a 60-person task force designed to respond to disaster circumstances throughout the state.

At Solaris, Sullivan is responsible for the repair and maintenance of telecommunications and local and wide-area paging systems used throughout the entire hospital system. This includes two major facilities: JFK Medical Center, a 441-bed hospital located in Edison employing nearly 4,000 surgeons, physicians, specialists and support staff; and Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, a 396-bed university affiliated medical facility based in Plainfield employing more than 2,000 doctors, nurses, and technical and service personnel.

Given the urgent nature of his mission, the need to service several locales miles apart and limited resources, Sullivan contracted a paging service solution from Aquis Communications, Inc. The network solution enabled Sullivan to cost-effectively and reliably support the communications needs of his staff and hospital personnel. The services include 1,200 pagers used by staff at JFK Medical Center, 400 pagers at Muhlenberg and 200 pagers used by a variety of nurses and nursing-home workers operating within the Solaris Health System. The solution involved transmitters, antennae, satellite dishes and associated communications-equipment installations at both JFK and Muhlenberg Medical Centers.

"Immediate, constant and reliable communication is imperative for the successful operation of this system and the quality of care provided to our patients," Sullivan said. "Paging has become an integral part of that service. It provides our facility with the ability to reach a person or group of people simultaneously with messages ranging from the need to clean up a particular hospital room on a specific floor to the necessity to prepare the emergency room for an infux of disaster casualties."

"And the system is easy to use. We have four operators who can direct the pages with little or no effort. Previously, mass pages had to be sent individually, making it a very time-consuming process. Now, an entire group can receive the same page in 10 to 15 seconds from one operator who spent only moments transcribing the message."

This capability proved especially useful when Sullivan received a page alerting him to the crash of a small aircraft in Fairfield, N.J., in November 2002. Within moments, fellow members of the New Jersey First Aid Council Mobilization Team were able to notify each other via pager of the mishap, relay updates and begin planning strategies including the possible allocation of volunteer ambulance and emergency medical personnel. In this instance, valuable equipment was prevented from going where it was not needed.

"I have never lost a message due to a network problem," Sullivan said. "I have received pages everywhere in the state of New Jersey and am confident I will continue to do so when the next crisis arises."

The Journal of Public Safety Communications, January 2003