Baptist Homes Society replaces aging phones with reliable, easy-to-use system
Baptist Homes Society operates two senior living communities in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Their new phone system supports both locations.
Dec 27, 2017
PITTSBURGH — Looking to replace their aging phone system, Baptist Homes Society, which operates two senior living communities in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, turned to Dagostino Electronic Services (DES).
The phone system had reached its end of life and they needed a reliable solution that would support operations at both Baptist Homes in Mt. Lebanon and Providence Point in Scott Township.
After putting the project out for bidders, it was DES’ professionalism and knowledge that stood out.
Kevin Santora, Director of Resident Services
“We really zeroed in on Dagostino because they answered our questions [and] they were very knowledgeable,” Kevin Santora, Director of Resident Services at Baptist Homes Society, explained. “There wasn’t any situation we threw at them that they didn’t know how to handle or hadn’t already handled.”
DES redesigned Baptist Homes’ phone system complete with upgraded infrastructure to work with the new technologies.
“We pretty much had to tear out what we were using and reinstall new technologies and that was all Dagostino leading the project,” Santora continued. “They were very sensitive to how things needed to work.”
More than 300 Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise phones were installed for employee and resident use and today the system works better than imagined.
“The system runs great,” said Santora. “It works so well, with very little glitches and problems, that when an issue does come up, its addressed and corrected [immediately].”
DES installed a new Alcatel-Lucent phone system at Baptist Homes Society’s two senior living communities in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.
The system is user-friendly yet intelligent enough to handle a high volume of calls in a short amount of time.
DES provided training to everyone, taking extra time teaching key staff members how to operate the system at its highest capacity during peak call times such as a utility outage.
Santora said, “[In a crisis situation], family members are calling in and want to know how family members are doing, are they okay, so the system has to be able to handle large volumes of calls in those types of situations and you have to have a person such as the operator or receptionist that handles that.”
DES’ ongoing support is available to Baptist Homes Society whenever needed.
“They’re very accessible all times of the day and night,” Santora said. “Their staff is responsive to our needs literally 24/7.”
He concluded, “You’re going to have glitches, nothing’s perfect, it’s the responsiveness of the company you’re working with [that] counts.”
Baptist Homes Society was established in 1910 and has remained committed to serving older adults of all faiths for more than 107 years.
Now with two diverse senior living communities, Baptist Homes and Providence Point, the organization serves more than 550 seniors every day.
Baptist Homes, located in Mt. Lebanon, offers private and semi-private skilled nursing rooms, private personal care suites and a secure dementia unit as well as HUD-subsidized independent living.
Providence Point, which opened in 2009 in Scott Township, is a LifeCare community and Pittsburgh’s premier retirement address.
