Athena Security Deploys Thermal Detection Screening At Ronald McDonald House New York Protecting High Risk Patients

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Feb 25, 2021, 21:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Athena Security today announced that Ronald McDonald House New York, located on 73rd St. in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, chose Athena Security's Elevated Temperature Checking system to protect their high risk patients and their families who are staying at the House while their children undergoes active treatment at a local NYC hospital.

"Our organization provides temporary housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families, many of whom are high risk, in a strong, supportive and caring environment that encourages and nurtures the development of child-to-child and parent-to-parent support systems," said RMH-NY Director of Operations, Wini Cudjoe. "When COVID started, we were only using handheld digital thermometers, but we wanted a system that would be less invasive, could remain accurate as families walk through, and wouldn't feel targeted or more anxious than they already are. We chose Athena because it was seamless in integrating with our current system, reduced physical contact, and we felt it provides the most accurate temperature reading with continuous calibration."

Protecting Patients Health and Privacy
Depending on occupancy, Ronald McDonald House New York has anywhere from 40 to 90 people per day coming in and out of the building and prior to using Athena Security, they were using handheld digital thermometers to manually check the temperatures of all the patients, families, and staff coming in and out of the building. Wanting to provide a less stressful process for their residents and to make them feel like their privacy was being respected, Cudjoe chose to implement Athena's cameras because it allows for not storing any personal data and the process is seamless.

It seems new mutations are happening each week and, with patients that are high risk and underage, protecting health as well as privacy is a top priority. The Ronald McDonald House, New York, has been using temperature checks as a part of a holistic approach to COVID safety, alongside other safety measures including using instructional signs, social distancing markers, hand sanitizers, COVID questionnaires upon entry, limiting elevators to one family at a time, increased cleaning process every day, and closing common area spaces to decrease contact.

A Note About Thermal Cameras
Thermal temperature checks can only identify and flag elevated temperatures, which may include those who are symptomatic COVID-positive individuals, but Dr. Michael Chang of the Texas Medical Center, another customer of Athena Security, recently published an academic study that found COVID-positive individuals who were symptomatic (fever, cough, shortness of breath, etc.) had a larger viral load than those who were asymptomatic. While asymptomatic people can still spread the virus, symptomatic people are more likely to and can be easily identified with a temperature check upon entering a busy building.

Athena also has occupancy sensors that count the number of people in a building. These sensors have no cameras to maintain privacy and help facilities achieve proper occupancy levels.

About Athena Security
Headquartered in Austin, TX and founded by former Revel Systems founders Lisa Falzone and Chris Ciabarra, Athena Security is a safety and security startup which sells products to help keep you safe, like the cutting-edge Apple iPad temperature detection and gun detection platform, integration with Envoy, questionnaire app, mask detection, people counting sensors and, in May, air quality control sensors. Athena Security's temperature detection is extremely accurate - within .2 degrees Celsius accurate for temperature detection. Athena offers an enterprise turn-key platform which has Elevated Temperature Detection System for fast, frictionless, contactless screening of pedestrian traffic checking the temperature of up to 2000 people per hour. Athena Security provides an initial temperature checker screening that can be confirmed by a second medical thermometer. For more information go to Athena Security's website at http://athena-security.com

About Ronald McDonald House New York
Located on East 73rd Street in New York, Ronald McDonald House New York (RMH-NY) is New York City's House. The organization provides temporary housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families in a strong, supportive and caring environment that encourages and nurtures the development of child-to-child and parent-to-parent support systems. RMH-NY has served more than 59,000 families throughout all five boroughs of New York City, across the U.S. and around the world, and approximately 40% of families are international. Its 11-story, 79,000 square-foot House features 95 guestrooms – including six post-transplant suites – four full guest kitchens, laundry facilities, two outdoor terraces, private libraries, a dining room, living room and more. At the House, families are welcomed with love and comfort, and lifelong friendships are formed among people who understand what it's like to cope with such a devastating diagnosis. RMH-NY's programs help to provide families a sense of normalcy, including wellness programs, educational tutors, music, art, transportation, activities for siblings, holiday and birthday parties, specialized support groups and more. The organization's presence extends well beyond the confines of the House, as RMH-NY is also committed to positively impacting communities across the five boroughs. Through partnerships with 16 of the city's leading hospitals, RMH-NY provides critical services to families with children undergoing cancer treatment at these hospitals. For more information, or to learn how to volunteer or donate, please visit rmh-newyork.org.

SOURCE Athena Security