United States Army Garrison Walter Reed, Walter Reed Army Medical Center To Deploy Network-Centric Mass Notification Solution
AtHoc Inc., provider of network-centric emergency mass notification systems, recently announced that the United States Army Garrison Walter Reed and Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) will deploy its AtHoc IWSAlerts system to help alert personnel in the event of an emergency and to rapidly communicate mission-critical information. The planned implementation of AtHoc’s technology will support as many as 10,000 military and civilian personnel at WRAMC, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
The AtHoc network-centric mass notification system will be deployed onsite behind Walter Reed’s NIPRNet firewall and will run using Microsoft-based servers and databases. The AtHoc solution will use the garrison’s existing IP network services and will leverage a centralized, Web-based architecture to deliver reliable and secure emergency notifications to all personnel. The system is fully compliant with the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Unified Facilities Criteria and the National Fire Protection Association Alarm and Signaling Code (NFPA 72) for net-centric emergency mass notification.
The AtHoc system will deliver alerts through the telephone, with text messaging, and with intrusive audio/visual pop-up alerts to personnel connected to the IP network via desktop, laptop and any other networked device. Alert responses from recipients will be captured and reported to emergency managers in real time to provide an enterprise personnel accountability picture of the safety and status of all personnel.
In addition to mass emergency alerting, the AtHoc system can be used for healthcare-specific scenarios such as a personnel recall in the event of mass casualty incident, or to quickly disseminate accurate information when dealing with a disease outbreak.
This new agreement is the latest in a series of DoD medical deployments by AtHoc. Recent deals include the U.S. Army Irwin Health Care Clinic at Fort Riley and Lyster Army Medical Clinic at Fort Rucker.
“The agreement with Walter Reed continues the successful rapid adoption of AtHoc IWSAlerts by the U.S. Army to support their command (IMCOM) emergency mass notification initiatives,” stated (Ret.) Army Col. David Brown, director of Army operations for AtHoc. “The scale of this deployment is significant as it clearly demonstrates the enterprise-class capabilities of the AtHoc platform and its ability and flexibility to address the unique requirements of an Army garrison and an Army medical center.”