PRESS RELEASE
ViaQuest Behavorial Health Implements New Security System at Summitquest Academy in Ephrata, Pa
Ephrata, PA (May 5, 2008) SummitQuest Academy (SQA), a division of ViaQuest Behavioral Health (VBH), recently installed a new electronic monitoring system on the floors of the facility that house residents in the Checkpoint Treatment Program. The system helps prevent sexual misconduct and elopements at night, and further protects the residents and staff from sexual improprieties.
Every evening, a designated SQA staff member enters each resident’s room, checks that everything is safe, and then scans an electronic tag on a wall in the room using a small, electronic wand. This is done every seven minutes throughout the night. (It can also be done more frequently for residents who do not seem to have the emotional, mental, or physical capacity to behave safely and appropriately.) Each Supervisor on duty will also scan an electronic tag located throughout the unit at the end of each hallway as he/she passes through each unit during nightly rounds. The scan time, date, resident room number, and identity of every staff person doing the scanning is recorded in the wand and downloaded to a central computer.
Use of this new system results in increased movement throughout the facility to better ensure the supervision and safety of both Checkpoint residents and SQA staff, while at the same time providing objective data in real time to support the facility’s safety standards.
SQA’s Checkpoint Treatment Program specializes in the treatment of youth with sexually-reactive and/or sexual offender challenges.
ViaQuest Behavioral Health is a division of ViaQuest Inc., headquartered in Dublin, OH. For more information, visit ViaQuest.com.
