THE BLUEPRINT:
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Northwell Health partners with Motorola Solutions to expand AI security.
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New system integrates video, radio, and mass alert tools.
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AI detects threats like intruders, fall risks, and unattended items.
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Supports staff safety amid rising concerns about workplace violence in healthcare.
With AI-driven technology, Northwell Health, headquartered in New Hyde Park, is enhancing its efforts to protect its 26 hospitals and 1,000-plus care locations.
The healthcare system expanded its use of video security, analytics, radio communications, mass notification and panic buttons by working with Chicago-based Motorola Solutions.
The AI-driven technology is designed to support the healthcare system, including protecting staff and patients and helping team members stay focused on patient care amid fast-moving and high-pressure medical emergencies.
“Managing security across a growing health network can be complex,” Mark Swensen, Northwell’s senior manager of operations of Security, Safety and Emergency Management, said in a news release about the efforts to enhance security.
“Investing in a security system where the technologies work together simplifies scaling new installations when hospitals and clinics join our network,” Swensen said. “We can add more security cameras or expand radio use across multiple sites without the challenges that can arise when security systems don’t easily connect.”
The investment comes at a time of increasing concerns over physical security attacks in healthcare settings. For example, more than 80 percent of nurses experienced workplace violence, according to a 2024 report, which gathered data from nearly 1,000 nurses in 48 states, by National Nurses United, a union and professional association of registered nurses.
With the new system at Northwell, cameras equipped with AI-driven analytics enhance proactive security by identifying potential threats such as unauthorized individuals on the property, unattended bags and fall hazards. Security and clinical personnel are alerted through two-way radios and other push-to-talk devices. This real-time integration between video and radio systems is designed to enhance both security and operational responsiveness.
The hospital is also expanding its use of a flexible communication system that is designed so that staff can easily share voice and data across different devices, including two-way radios and smartphones. This helps security teams, medical staff and administrators stay connected and, when needed, respond quickly.
“Northwell Health is creating a more secure work environment where doctors, nurses and clinical teams can focus on what they do best: taking care of patients,” Scott Schoepel, vice president of Video Security & Access Control at Motorola Solutions, said in the news release.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
