Resident-to-Caregiver Alert System

The John Cardinal O’Connor Clergy Residence (also known as the O’Connor & Egan Residences) is a 47,000-square-foot residential care facility in Bronx, NY, operated by the Archdiocese of New York. The residence provides a comfortable, supportive environment for retired clergy and priests who have served throughout the archdiocese. To enhance resident safety and improve caregiver response times, facility management sought a simple, reliable wireless caregiver alert system that would allow residents to instantly request assistance or signal emergencies.

The chosen solution was a Visiplex Wireless Caregiver Alert System featuring wearable call buttons that enable residents to instantly send alerts directly to caregivers’ mobile phones. Each wireless call button was programmed with a resident-specific message (for example: “Mr. Jones – Room 21 Needs Assistance”), allowing caregivers to quickly identify the location and respond efficiently.

Using a magnetic reset fob, caregivers can acknowledge a call at the resident’s room and automatically send a second pre-programmed message (e.g., “Mr. Jones – Room 21 Assistance Is Being Provided”), ensuring that staff and supervisors remain informed in real time.

At the heart of the system is the Visiplex VNS4400 SMS Gateway, which wirelessly receives all alerts from the resident call buttons and routes them to the appropriate caregiver department — such as Independent Living, Extended Care, Alzheimer’s Care, or Critical Care — via SMS text message. This provides instant, targeted communication when help is needed, improving response times, safety, and overall operational efficiency.

Visiplex’s wireless call buttons are powered by long-life lithium batteries lasting up to 10 years, minimizing maintenance and reducing operational costs. The basic system installation was completed easily by the facility’s in-house maintenance staff, demonstrating how simple it is to deploy and scale the Visiplex caregiver alert system.