CFC is an authorized installer of Top Door Alarm systems, a leading provider of integrated door systems designed to meet the unique safety needs of medical, behavioral health and corrections facilities. Already protecting more than 2,000 patient rooms across the nation, Top Door Alarm provides medical staff continuous detection and notification of self-harm attempts when a door is used as a ligature point. State-of-the-art photoelectric sensor technology, available for both the top and bottom of the door, recognizes presence before pressure is ever applied to the door, allowing for a life-saving proactive emergency response. Top Door Alarm systems can be designed for both new or existing facilities in a variety of applications.
How it works
Top Door Alarm is a suicide alarm device installed on the room door. It can detect when a patient attempts to throw ligature above or under the door and alert the staff.
The system consists of one or more units installed on the patients rooms’ door and the control panel located in the nurses room. The door units have a series of motion and pressure detectors and can give off multiple visual and audio signals. Most importantly, they also alert the central unit – the control panel – when an emergency happens.
It is important to note that Top Door Alarm is a proactive system that detects the presence of a ligature before any pressure on the door ever happens. This way, the staff on the floor will get notified before an event happens and will have more time to react.
Door Sensors
Each unit installed on a patient’s room door has two sets of photoelectric sensors. One set is installed above the door, while the other is installed under the door.
The set installed on the top of the door features one sensor on the frame header and one on the top door face. Since these are presence sensors, they will trigger the alarm as soon as they detect something near the top of the door, be it a bed sheet, a piece of clothing, or a towel. The alarm will go off before there’s any pressure on the door.
The set of sensors installed beneath the door are also photoelectric. One sensor is drilled into the door frame, while the other is fixed to the opposite edge of the door. Like the sensors installed on top, bottom sensors trigger the alarm as soon as they detect the presence of a foreign object.
Every door unit can be reset after an event via local keyed reset switch. The switch is installed in the wall, next to the door jamb and you can reset it with the provided key. During the set, the system is deactivated and reactivated simultaneously.
Alarm Notifications
Top Door Alarms have several visual and audio alerts at its disposal to ensure maximum safety. Here’s a word or two on each of them.
- Visual. Top Door Alarm has a fixed or strobe light, depending on your preference, installed in the hallway above every door.
- Audio. Every Top Door Alarm system is equipped with a hallway siren, as well.
- Control panel. Finally, Every Top Door Alarm system has audio and visual notifications on the control panel that’s in the nurse’s station.
Control Panel
The control panel is usually installed in the nurse’s station. It has a touch-screen display and its own battery system. It’s also connected to the emergency power supply in the facility. One control panel can monitor as many as 126 doors and can keep track of last 500 events.
The control panel can also be connected with remote displays if a facility has multiple nurse stations. That way, the entire facility can be connected to a single control panel. The by-pass option allows you to bypass one or more rooms and still maintain the system’s integrity.
You can also run silent tests on the Top Door Alarm systems. Finally, each system has an internal dialer that enables remote diagnostics.
Final Words
Top Door Alarm is a very effective system that uses state of the art motion sensors which greatly improve the patient’s safety.
CFC has been around for over thirty years and we take great pride in the quality of our work. Among many other services, we also install and maintain Top Door Alarm systems throughout the state of Florida.