Monitoring health isn’t just for patients; it’s also for equipmentWritten by Julie Villarreal
October 31, 2018
Hospitals consume large amounts of energy because of how they are run and the many people that use them. They are open 24 hours a day; thousands of employees, patients, and visitors occupy the buildings daily; and sophisticated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems control the temperatures and air flow. They are critical in keeping people and communities happy and healthy. That’s why we’re excited to be installing Buddy Ohm in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.
Located in Santo Domingo, the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital (O&G) is a prestigious, full-service health facility in the Dominican Republic with state-of-the-art technology and 24/7 services including emergency services, laboratories, pediatrics, intensive care services, among others.
Behind the scenes in any hospital, many energy intensive activities occur that are all critical and necessary to ensuring patients’ quick recoveries: laundry, medical and lab equipment use, sterilization, computer and server use, food service, and refrigeration. In the United States, for example, medical machines (like MRIs) account for 18% of hospitals’ total energy use.
This critical equipment is exactly what interested O&G in installing Buddy Ohm. They are using Buddy Ohm to help protect the up-time of their Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment. O&G recognized the importance of real-time power and temperature monitoring and alerts to ensure proper power supply to the MRI where power is even more critical—because often it is unstable and “dirty”.
To properly power the MRI, there are two power racks that sit in a power room that must stay below 20C. The first rack receives power from the outside and the second rack is a power converter to deliver specific power feeds to the MRI. If at any time these power racks overheat or malfunction, it could damage the equipment and result in downtime of the critical MRI services.
Because the MRI is a critical and expensive piece of equipment, the Buddy Ohm monitoring business case was a no-brainer. For a fraction of the monthly cost of the insurance paid to maintain and repair the MRI, Buddy goes a step further to help prevent a breakdown. Besides the economic impact of an MRI shutdown, up-time is critical to patient health and the hospital’s reputation. As Dr. Mena, mentioned when choosing Buddy, “Nowadays, we need to monitor not only patients, but also the machines that we use. Buddy helps us do this effectively.” We couldn’t agree more.
