CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- CA Wireless, a specialist in custom engineered in-building wireless and distributed antenna (DAS) systems, has introduced its CellSafe Hospital Cell Phone Repeater Solution. The platform enables hospital staff, patients and visitors to safely use their phones while lowering or eliminating the risk to hospital equipment from electromagnetic interference (EMI).
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Unlike traditional repeater systems that use coaxial cabling, the CellSafe Hospital platform leverages the existing fiber optic infrastructure of a hospital to amplify the available cellular signal throughout the building. Given the large areas and spread out physical design of hospitals, CA Wireless contends that coaxial cabling is an impractical and expensive solution for repeater systems.
CA Wireless says the system can repeat a cellular signal up to a few kilometers via fiber with no signal loss, as opposed to only a couple of hundred meters with coaxial cable. By improving signal strength on cell phones, the resulting effect is a reduction in the need for cell phones to “power up” for the wireless transmission. CA Wireless notes that its engineers are experts in the proper design of a dual-band building repeater system that reduces the potential for electromagnetic interference.
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“For most people today, cellular phones are a communications lifeline, and that’s even more so in hospital environments,” said Howard Melamed, CEO of CellAntenna Corporation. “With hospital staff trying to stay connected up-to-the-minute on critical situations, the importance of effective and safe wireless communications within a hospital cannot be understated. CA Wireless brings nearly a decade of expertise in wireless communications to the healthcare market to solve this challenge and eliminate the concerns over cell phone use in hospitals.”
The company notes that doctors rely on their cell phones now more than ever. MedTech Journal conducted a poll of doctors and found that the number-one phone choice among doctors is the iPhone, followed by BlackBerry. Both of these smartphone devices require constant access to cellular networks to use applications helpful for doctors. As of January 2010, there were more than 1,700 medical applications on iTunes. All together, these applications have been downloaded by more than one million users.
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CA Wireless concludes that this data shows that the proper application of wireless technology can increase productivity, decrease costs and improve the quality of healthcare within hospitals. Immediate access to patient data, test results and consulting physicians while the doctor is either on- or off-campus, or at the point-of-care, has the potential to save lives. Additionally, good cellular coverage is critical for public safety access, ensuring police and fire rescue personnel have unabated communication in a time of crisis.
CA Wireless (www.cawireless.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of CellAntenna Corporation (www.cellantenna.com).