Silent alarm system paired with a digital PBX for an assisted living complex in Bad Muenstereifel 

Background

DFD der Fachpflegedienst GmbH is a well-known care service in NRW. The company operates several retirement and dementia care homes and assisted living facilities at various locations in the Ruhr region.  

When a facility in Bad Münstereifel was taken over as part of insolvency proceedings, it was discovered that neither the silent alarm system for the care staff nor the telephone system was working properly. There were regular outages and the residents were no longer able to make calls at all. The company had to spend around EUR 300 to replace each DECT handset (which often break in the hectic everyday life of a care home).  

The management was faced with a choice between taking over the existing and largely non-functioning system for around EUR 70,000 and a new system. 

Task

DFD der Fachpflegedienst GmbH commissioned us to completely replace the existing silent alarm system and the telephone system. It goes without saying that the new system had to fulfil all legal requirements and transmit the signal via redundant paths. The silent alarm system must also indicate the premises in which the fire was detected. The telephone system should ensure solid coverage throughout the three-storey building so that staff have good reception in every corner. In addition, the telephone system must support various functions, including faxing, conferencing, call forwarding and blocking of certain numbers and call destinations for residents. Finally, attention had to be paid to the fact that the system had to be economically much more efficient than the existing system. 

Action

For this demanding contract, we selected our integrated digital solution, which offers a bundle of silent alarming and a SIP-based telephone system.  The system consists of the following key components: 

• an alarm server
• a SIP server
• a DECT base station with repeaters and 
• a UPS. 

The system was integrated and connected to the existing Siemens/Esser fire alarm system via the ESPA interface. The fully digital telephone system works via a SIP trunk and offers the flexibility of a modern digital PBX. The system can be configured remotely and we have completely taken over the administration and support of the system for DFD der Fachpflegedienst GmbH. 

Result

The installed system fulfils all the client’s requirements and offers a much better sound quality compared to the previous „traditional“ system.

The existing system was completely switched off and dismantled.

The staff at the centre and the residents are delighted with the stable telephony and guaranteed security provided by the new silent alarm system.

Facts and figures:

The entire constellation consumes around 3 times less energy and costs as little as approx. 50% of the previous system.

A mobile hand-held unit costs almost twice as little much as the previous system.

The total economic effect is apprx. 30,000 EUR one-off