During Tuesday night’s board meeting, Good Samaritan’s Board of Governors approved the purchase of a new antenna system that will benefit patients and their families. The distributed antenna system (DAS) will provide better wireless reception throughout Gibault Memorial Tower.

After sending the “scope of work” to five potential bidders, RF Connect, a wireless connection company based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, was chosen to install the antenna. The process will take about four months and will include roof penetration work and power distribution. A CAT 6A system will be installed allowing more flexibility for system expansion. This system will also be beneficial with 5G technology and bandwidth changes in the near future. The total cost for the project is anticipated to be $273,499.

“Providing better wireless reception will allow our patients and their families to have improved communication while in the hospital, especially in the Emergency Room and Gibault Memorial Tower,” said Matt Schuckman, Vice President of Operations. “The new antenna installation will also improve staff communication throughout the entire organization.”

In addition to the antenna system, the board also approved the purchase of data storage and capacity management hardware for the Information Systems department. The NetApp A200 All-Flash device will support the need for additional data storage and provide increased capacity and efficiency.

Danny Scott, Director of Information Systems, stated that in the ever-growing health care information systems environment, storage is consistently required to house large amounts of data, for both immediate review and long-term storage.

“This system gives Good Samaritan the ability to store massive amounts of data, from various inputs, for long-term retention,” added Scott. “Additionally, it prepares us to realize our disaster recovery and business continuity strategy.”

The NetApp A200 All-Flash device will be purchased with budgeted funds in the amount of $85,778.93 and will ensure the high performance standards of the current storage infrastructure.