Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital Chooses Hytera DMR Radio System

About Lake Forest Hospital

Lake Forest Hospital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwestern Medicine HealthCare and one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. It is a newly constructed, 500,000 square foot facility situated on a 160-acre campus featuring five pavilions for inpatient and ambulatory care.

The Challenges

Prior to its new construction, Lake Forest Hospital operated from a 75-year-old building and relied on an outdated analog radio system for many years. This existing system could no longer meet the capacity or coverage demands of the hospital's expanding campus. Following approval to build a new facility, the hospital initiated an upgrade of its operational infrastructure, including the radio system.

The approved construction plans for the new Lake Forest Hospital permitted buildings up to a maximum height of 3 stories. Due to zoning height limitations, the hospital campus expanded horizontally rather than vertically. The new, larger facility required enhanced flexibility to provide coverage for both the campus grounds and the underground tunnel system connecting the buildings. The system also needed to accommodate additional capacity as the hospital continued to grow and onboard new users.

The Solution

The Manager of Engineering and Maintenance at Lake Forest Hospital partnered with Alpha Prime Communications, a trusted wireless communications dealer, for recommendations on upgrading their radio system. Alpha Prime had been supplying radio communications equipment and services to Lake Forest Hospital for over 13 years. Leveraging this long-term relationship, Lake Forest Hospital entrusted Alpha Prime to thoroughly assess the hospital's requirements and propose a robust solution capable of meeting the demands of a growing campus.

Alpha Prime conducted an extensive review of the hospital's communication needs, determining that expanding the existing radio system would cost twice as much as implementing an entirely new Hytera digital system.

Andy Kerman, Sales and Service Manager at Alpha Prime, recommended the Hytera Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) trunking solution, which included DMR portable radios and mobile radios for dispatch services. These radios support both analog and digital operation, facilitating a smooth migration path for the hospital to transition from its existing analog system to the Hytera digital DMR solution over time.

To address potential coverage issues across the sprawling campus, Alpha Prime designed and installed a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) utilizing over 3,000 feet of cable throughout the tunnel system. This ensured comprehensive campus-wide coverage for the new Hytera 2-site, 6-channel DMR trunking system. The 2-site configuration was implemented to guarantee coverage for both the new hospital (Site 1, with DAS) and the existing medical buildings (Site 2).

Over one hundred Hytera portable radios are used daily by Lake Forest Hospital staff across various departments, including maintenance, engineering, security, administration, emergency services, grounds, and environmental services. The hospital's communications department also utilizes the dispatch features of the mobile radios for specific user groups. Key functionalities include priority interrupt, enabling medical and administrative staff to override existing radio calls during emergency codes, and monitoring channels for continuous situational awareness.

The radios were configured with advanced digital encryption and restricted access to ensure secure transmissions and protect patient privacy. These two-way radios provide secure and reliable communications, functioning effectively even when cellular or Wi-Fi networks are unavailable, making them a critical communication tool during natural disasters like fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

The Results

Hospital staff at Lake Forest rely on their Hytera radios daily, finding them to be an essential lifeline for patient care and staff communication.

"The system coverage is top notch. We have not experienced any issues with coverage across the entire campus. The sound quality and clarity of the radios is excellent."

— Lake Forest Hospital Director Facilities