Elizabeth Gregory Home and PC Locs Team Up to Provide Security to Women Facing Hardship
14.02.23 in Blog, Industry News, Product News, Testimonials
PC Locs Saves the Day, Every Day
Written by Ally Baehr - Executive Director, Elizabeth Gregory Home
Ally Baehr
Executive Director
Imagine, if you will, that you are a woman living outside, only able to keep what you can comfortably carry, being very susceptible to having your belongings stolen and your body violated. Sleeping outside is nearly impossible when your safety is consistently being threatened. Your cell phone or other device is your lifeline. It is how you can connect to resources, family and friends, a flashlight, a way to get emergency help, a place to keep important information, how potential employers can reach you, etc. Yet, when you’re experiencing homelessness, your options for charging your device are slim, and you certainly can’t plug it in and fall asleep, because your device will be gone when you wake up, even in shelter.
Elizabeth Gregory Home is a Day Center in north Seattle that provides a welcoming and respectful refuge where women who are experiencing homelessness, hardship and trauma have access to compassionate care. In our Day Center, we provide a variety of services to help make things a little bit easier. We have safe spaces to sleep, take showers, do laundry, get a hot breakfast and lunch, food to take, bus passes, hygiene supplies, clothing, use lockers, and get case management.
But even providing this safe space to do all these things, trust is still hard to gain. After all these women have been through, they are not going to leave their devices plugged into the wall while they sleep or shower. Unfortunately, we can’t completely prevent theft in our space, and that is where [PC Locs] comes in and saves the day.
We did a preliminary search for options to meet this need, but were quickly discouraged by the cost as a small nonprofit organisation. I hesitantly reached out the [PC Locs] to see if there was anything they could do to reduce the cost. Not only did they respond quickly and with enthusiasm, they said they had a unit that had recently been returned and that we could have it, free of charge. We were ecstatic and so incredibly grateful!
[PC Locs] has given us the best option to meet the needs of the women we serve. Women can safely lock their devices in our secure PC Locs Charging Locker and finally get some good rest, be able to step away from their device and take a shower – and not worry about it getting stolen. They can pick their own code, the locker resets after each user, and women are able to fully charge their devices before they leave for the night, giving them just a little extra boost of safety and security.
[PC Locs'] solution has allowed us to add another service to our Day Center, and anything we can do to help these women get through the most difficult time of their lives is essential for us to invest in. These women deserve that investment as we do our work with Respect, Inclusion, Community, and Empathy, the values we instill in our team and our work. Thank you to the [PC Locs] team for your support and this brilliant solution.
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This case study was originally written in collaboration with Elizabeth Gregory Home and LocknCharge. LocknCharge is the international brand of PC Locs.
Digital Transformation is Driving Patient and Staff Success in Healthcare
07.02.23 in Blog, Industry News, Product News
For years, the healthcare industry was on the cusp of fully embracing digital transformation, but it was the pandemic that became the catalyst for holistic change, streamlining a fragmented process where end-to-end solutions improved workflows and patient outcomes.
Today, healthcare facilities continue to switch from pen and paper to digital technology, using devices in nurses’ stations, administrative offices, patient rooms, and more.
The healthcare industry is taking heed as it optimises its systems and strategies for the future.
In a survey conducted by The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, 60% of technology executives said they were midway through their digital transformation journeys and 92% are hoping to achieve better patient experience as the top desired outcome from the switch.
Proven Outcomes of Mobile Technology in Healthcare are on the Rise
At the heart of this shift is the integration of portable mobile devices, whose ease of use, transportability, and seamless operating systems have helped healthcare decision-makers switch to paperless systems.
Their success in healthcare settings is increasingly being documented. In a 2022 Future of Healthcare Study recently published Zebra Technologies, mobile technology provided a cost savings of over 50%, improved the quality of patient care by 72% as well as reduced medication errors by 61% as reported by nurse managers and healthcare IT executives.
By leveraging mobile devices in mission-critical environments, leaders in the healthcare industry can:
- Collect and access patient data quickly and accurately.
- Decrease costs by reducing manual and paper processes.
- Improve employee and patient communication.
Device Management is a Critical Tool to Ensure Mobile Device Success
To ensure positive outcomes associated with the transition to mobile devices, decision-makers must also consider the successful management of devices. A central charging station is critical to ensuring that mobile devices don’t get lost, broken, or left uncharged - all of which could lead to staff downtime. These inefficiencies directly impact employee productivity as well as budgets.
With data security breaches on the rise, mission-critical facilities must also consider the risks to their reputation, finances, and patient safety that come with stolen devices.
Reduce the chances of security breaches with charging stations like PC Locs’ iQ 10 Charging Station, which can be used with the latest USB-C devices and efficiently charge up to 10 devices at once. The iQ 10 Charging Station’s welded steel construction, mounting kit, and hardened steel padlock protect devices while they’re not in use. PC Locs’ Putnam Charging Stations, which can charge, store, and secure 8 or 16 iPad and Tablet devices feature external LED lights that reveal the charging status of devices inside, optimising workflow during shift rotations. For leaders who crave maximum portability, the CarryOn’s compact design and built-in handle make transporting and distributing devices easier.
With healthcare facilities motivated to lay down the foundations of their digital technology strategies in recent years, ensuring continued adoption and successful device management can yield positive outcomes for leaders, staff, and most importantly, patients.
Ready to accelerate your healthcare organisation’s
digital transformation?
Contact us to learn how a charging station can make all the difference.
Cheers to a Smart and Connected 2022
21.12.22 in Blog
Like most of you, we are thrilled to be reconnecting in person with family, friends, customers and partners. During conversations with us, you may notice we can hardly contain our excitement for our smart and connected lockers, enhancements to our Cloud platform and upgrades to our most popular carts and stations.
As always, we want to make life easier for you and your organisation – and we know by sharing our latest and greatest product lineups, we’re able to do just that.
So, let's turn on Party Mode and have some fun ringing in the holiday season. We look forward to celebrating your continued achievements in 2023 and beyond!
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Smart Charging Lockers Solving Device Management for Mondovi School District
08.12.22 in Blog, Industry News, Product News, Testimonials
November 2022 | Mondovi, WI
Background: School District of Mondovi
The School District of Mondovi is home to about 950 students in grades K-12, all on one shared campus. Within this small western Wisconsin town, community members and school district staff work together to provide students with individual attention, contemporary technology and limitless opportunity. With forward and pragmatic thinking, and a lean team of professionals, they are able to problem-solve quickly and efficiently to best serve the needs of their students.
Challenge: Managing 1:1 Device Program
Mondovi offers 1:1 devices - namely Chromebooks - for all of their grade levels. These used to be kept in the classrooms, but ever since COVID sent everyone home to learn, they’ve transitioned to a take-home device program for their middle and high school students. With that transition came some growing pains. They lacked a solid communication strategy for tracking the location and status of devices that needed repair. Many Chromebooks were lost, along with hours of learning time.
So, when IT Director Brad Elkins was replacing the district’s entire fleet with brand new Chromebooks this school year, he knew the break/fix process also needed an upgrade.
Solution
Elkins first heard about FUYL Tower™ Smart Lockers through one of his IT contacts working in another school district. They were utilising a FUYL Tower in their school cafeteria as a public charging station. This was intriguing, and after researching the FUYL Towers himself, Elkins saw even greater potential for the smart lockers at Mondovi. As the sole IT staff member at Mondovi, he presented a plan to the district admins for a self-serve automated exchange of broken or forgotten devices. They saw value in the technology enough to move forward.
Results: Smart Charging Lockers for Device Management
It worked out. After a seamless implementation of a FUYL Tower 5 demo unit, Elkins saw all of his ROI calculations materialise. He also saw learning loss eliminated while students with broken or forgotten devices were immediately equipped with a fully charged and ready loaner. The technology built into the cloud platform gave him incredible freedom to customise their workflow - he used a webhook to send an email every time a device was checked out, detailing the time, bay number and user.
Now with immediate notifications, and an automatic and detailed log of device loans and returns, Mondovi’s IT department of one isn’t surprised by a pile of Chromebooks to diagnose at the end of his work day. The ease of the new system has been embraced by everyone. In fact, the only regret is not having purchased the FUYL Tower with 15 bays instead of 5.
What’s Next for Technology?
Elkins has plans to expand their self-serve locker capacity so that some bays might be reserved for other functionalities - right now all five bays are filled with spare Chromebooks. He’s already dabbled with check outs for parents and paraprofessionals to offer a secure and convenient hand-off that doesn’t have to be scheduled face-to-face.
As the district works on its strategic plan for the next five years, they’ll likely be finding more ways to improve and refresh technology.
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3 Best Charging Stations for Mobile Devices in Healthcare and Aged Care
05.12.22 in Blog, Industry News, Product News
If your healthcare or aged care facility owns mobile devices, such as iPad or Tablet devices for staff or shift workers to complete their work, then you need a simple, yet secure way to store, charge, and distribute the devices. A high-quality storage system like a charging station can solve this need.
Cords can get tangled, devices become lost or stolen, a limited number of outlets can lead to a counterintuitive technology plan and device management for broken devices is compounding. With 73% of businesses failing to find a proper charging station for their technology, these problems are more common than you think!
When it comes to productivity, an uncharged mobile device can have serious downstream consequences. Consider cost of the employee's downtime if staff are left searching for a working device or having to revert back to manual processes to get work done.
Choosing the right charging station for your healthcare facility or clinic depends on many factors, such as how many mobile devices you need to store and charge and what type of devices you have.
At PC Locs, we design and make charging stations for a variety of industries to meet a wide variety of workflows. Here are our top 3 picks for the Healthcare and Aged care sector:
Designed to charge, store, and secure up to 8 or 16 iPad or Tablet devices, the Putnam Charging Stations are a wall-mounted or stackable charging locker that features color-coded LED displays so you know when your devices are charged and ready to use. Perfect for busy healthcare professionals.
The Putnam Charging Station comes equipped with 8 or 16 MFi-approved Lightning cables, supplying 2.4 amp charging at each port. The cables are the perfect length for quickly plugging in devices after use.
The iQ 10 Charging Station lets you charge, store, and secure up to 10 iPad or Tablet devices in a compact unit that can be mounted on a desk or wall.
A unique feature in this charging station is that devices are store in removable, portable baskets meaning you can grab and transport a set of devices to any location with ease. Device racks are also included if baskets do not work with your workflow.
Our most compact and portable charging station. The CarryOn is designed to charge, store, secure and transport up to 5 iPad or Tablet devices.
The CarryOn can store tablets with screen sizes up to 10 inches, with or without cases. Its aluminium outer shell makes it both lightweight and durable, protecting the devices inside. The transparent acrylic door lets you quickly see that all devices are there and ready to use.
Ready to get serious about managing your mobile devices more efficiently?
Contact PC Locs now to speak to one of our deployment specialists:
www.pclocs.com.au/healthcare