Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan’s medical school, is home to one of the largest health care complexes in the state with more than 30,000 students and staff. It has been the site of many groundbreaking medical and technological advancements since its opening in 1850. Michigan Medicine continues to make a difference in the field through its premier patient care and cutting-edge research.

THE CHALLENGE:

At the beginning of COVID-19, the hospital administration team worked around the clock from their Emergency Command Center to go over daily touchpoints such as patient counts and hospital logistics. Robert Levitt, Manager, Audio & Video Services, and Kyle Matthews, Senior Audio-Visual Project Engineer at Michigan Medicine, were charged with implementing a technology solution that would allow pertinent information to be shared and analyzed among several teams during those critical first months.

THE SOLUTION:

To address these new challenges, the Michigan Medicine AV team needed to expand their existing Crestron DigitalMedia™ platform with the capability to add more sources. This would equip hospital administration to bring in local and regional news coverage, as well as share content from custom dashboards used to make important operational decisions.

Michigan Medicine classrooms also leverage Crestron technology beyond their command centers with Crestron UC Smart Soundbars in small group learning rooms and Crestron DM NVX® AV-over-IP distribution in large lecture halls. “Our end users often have multiple appointments across campus and work between several of the different colleges,” explains Levitt. “We provide them with a single user experience on our Crestron touch screens that takes the guesswork away and allows them to concentrate on what they are doing.”

The Michigan Medicine AV team’s newest room design focuses on combinable spaces that utilize DM NVX for AV-over-IP distribution, an AirMedia® presentation system for content sharing, and a Crestron control system as the brains of the room. Whether the spaces are being combined for one large event or divided up for smaller groups, managing the custom setup and technology is simplified with the Crestron touch screen.

RESULTS:

Crestron has provided reliable solutions that are used across the university for both emergency medical response amid the global pandemic as well as day-to-day learning in classrooms. “We have used Crestron for a number of our initiatives across campus,” explains Levitt. “Crestron solutions, training, and support allow us to standardize the experience for our team and internal clients.”