When you’re dealing with children and vaccines, good enough just won’t do.
That’s why Hancock Physician Network, a full-service system of health care providers under the umbrella of Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, Indiana, chose two best-in-class companies to protect its vaccines, including those administered under the federal Vaccine for Children program.
The VFC program provides vaccines to qualifying children who might not be able to get their vaccinations due to inability to pay.
To store the vaccines properly, Helmer Scientific medical-grade refrigerators were paired with Sonicu wireless temperature monitoring and sensors to provide state-of-the-art hospital refrigerator remote monitoring and temperature maintenance at HPN offices and clinics.
Both companies were actively involved with the hospital in various capacities previously. Helmer Scientific supplied refrigerators and freezers in several departments and Sonicu monitored and measured a broad number of points throughout the enterprise, including temperature, power, and humidity.
It was a logical progression for HPN to select the companies for safe storage and monitoring of its significant vaccine inventory throughout the network’s 13 office locations.
Federal VFC regulations require all participating providers to store vaccines in medical-grade refrigerators that are continuously monitored and logged to ensure vaccine integrity and patient safety.
Sonicu’s patented wireless temperature sensors comply with VFC’s rigid standards. The detachable, fully buffered, glycol immersed sensors are calibrated and NIST traceable, uploading accurate temperature readings to Sonicu’s cloud based software platform up to 96 times daily.
Temperature data is automatically logged and archived, eliminating the time consuming, manual process of checking and hand logging refrigerator temperatures. Sonicu’s software platform allows HPN staff to monitor and manage temperature data from each individual unit via internet based devices and provides 24/7/365 text or email alarming. 
The benefit of Sonicu’s real-time and historical data views recently became critical when an older, non-Helmer refrigerator expired at a network clinic. Staff timely noticed the temperature excursion and took appropriate action to ensure no degraded vaccines were dispensed to the public.
In addition to alarming and alerting, Sonicu’s remote temperature monitoring solution provides information that is easily managed for reporting and auditing compliance.
Looking ahead, Sonicu wireless temperature monitoring will also allow the network to quickly troubleshoot and identify older cold storage units that need to be replaced in the future.
For more information about Sonicu wireless temperature monitoring, contact Joe Mundell, Sonicu vice president of sales at (317) 586-4808 or email him at jmundell@sonicu.com.
