Resident wandering causes great concern for nursing homes and other facilities that care for residents with dementia. For 28 years, Secure Care Products ®, Inc., Concord, NH, has been addressing that concern and easing the minds of residents’ families with its line of electronic monitoring systems.

Founded in 1979 and acquired by McKerley HCC in 1988, Secure Care embraced the concept of restraint-free wandering resident supervision by designing and marketing electronic monitoring equipment for wandering residents.

Product Development

The company’s first electronic security system was a rubber floor mat antenna that was placed at facility exit doors. The mat would pick up signals from small transmitters residents wore on their ankles, alerting staff if a resident attempted to leave the building.

Today, Secure Care Products ® offers a complete line of radio frequency-based electronic security systems targeted to hospitals, nursery security, nursing homes, assisted living, long-term care, sub-acute facilities as well as private homes for those trying to take personal care of their loved ones with wandering problems.

The company has grown to a staff of 70 employees, and owns and operates its own factory housing administrative offices, sales and service, research and development, manufacturing and warehousing. Its factory manufactures a variety of different components for its transmitters, antennas, receivers and keypad panels.

Quality Assurance

Secure Care Products ® prides itself on its reputation for quality customer service. “We are the only company in the industry that has factory-authorized and factory-trained sales and service people in every state in the United States and several countries worldwide. We are ISO-9001-2000 certified by TUV USA. This allows us to control the quality of the product, as well as offer the highest level of professional sales and service in the industry,” says Harold Baldwin, President.

“Our Distributors act as security consultants to Secure Care Products ®’ several thousand customers“, Baldwin says. Typically, the company’s sales people have both health care and electronic backgrounds and must attend corporate training at least once a year. They travel to facilities, demonstrate the products and assess the building to determine which type of system would work best for the individual client’s needs.

“Because we offer high-cost and low-cost systems, we can mix those together to give the customers exactly what they need without paying any more than they have to”, Baldwin explains.

Innovation

Although there are similar products on the market, Baldwin says Secure Care Products ®’ devices are unique. “All of our product lines provide not only peace of mind for the caregiver, but ultimately they provide a more dignified and comfortable alternative for individuals being cared for,” Baldwin maintains.

New Outlets

In 1992, the company expanded into infant security with KinderGUARD®, a system designed to prevent newborn baby abductions. “We wanted to diversify and open up some other markets for the same technology we’re using in long-term care,” Baldwin points out.

Infants wear small ankle transmitters that signal an alarm if an abductor attempts to remove an infant from the hospital or if an unauthorized person attempts to tamper with or remove the transmitter from the infants ankle. The alarm automatically locks any KinderGUARD®-monitored exit doors, disables elevators and enacts video monitoring. The transmitter also allows security to identify which baby is being abducted.

KinderGUARD® I.D. is an infant protection system that identifies each infant by name, room number and location. When a monitored infant is brought near an exit, the KinderGUARD® I.D. system identifies the baby, locks the door and can report the attempted exit to a nurse console, computer and/or security desk. The console displays the infant’s name, room number and the exit location.

MatchMAKER® I.D. can be used with KinderGUARD® I.D., when an infant is brought to its mother’s room, MatchMAKER® I.D. will match the mother to infant and can easily monitor multiple births as well as rooms with multiple beds.
In more recent years, Secure Care has been engaged in the development of products for other markets such as; the home market with “HomeWATCH™”, which operates as an alarm system that allows normal traffic flow and will generate both a visual and audible alarm when a monitored loved one exits the home through a monitored door.

Our newest product - “Secure Care PATH™” a product designed to provide caregivers the ability to monitor, locate and safely return wander-prone residents, reduce the time it takes to find them and reduce potential exposure to harm. Baldwin assures us that, “Secure Care is committed to the safety of your loved ones”.

As for the company’s future, Baldwin plans to continue as a leader in product design and development and make Secure Care’s resident monitoring systems available worldwide. “The same products and services that have been successful in the United States are being brought to the international marketplace,” he says.

Restraint-free supervision keeps residents safe, sound and secure.