- Safety Measures for Retirement Communities
- Access Control
- Surveillance Systems & Monitoring
- Role of Security Guards
- Community Engagement & Awareness
- Emergency Preparedness
- Health & Wellness
- Contact The Guard Alliance
Concerns about retirement community security are increasing over time. Keeping your retirement home residents safe now requires an array of tools and security experts to reduce risk and ensure the safety of everyone on-site. The Guard Alliance receives regular requests from assisted living facilities needing unarmed, armed, and fire watch security guards. Often, these requests are in response to urgent needs.
Comprehensive retirement community security demands that decision-makers address issues specific to assisted living facilities, including:
- Theft
- Scams
- Violence
- Staff Protection
- Resident Elopement
- Health Emergencies
Unlike in office environments or standard residential facilities, security personnel at retirement homes cannot simply limit property access to minimize risks. Unfortunately, residents may inflict harm on each other or staff members, and may not be in full control of their actions. These realities must be balanced against conventional threats from the outside—troublemakers entering the property and raising the risk of theft, arson, or property damage.
Keeping your retirement home residents safe demands a mix of traditional security measures and light-handed approaches to dealing with residents. Ultimately, decision-makers are responsible for residents’ physical and emotional safety. To assist the retirement communities in our network, we’ve put together these safety measures, which are informed by the experience of our guards in the field.
Safety Measures for Retirement Communities
Access Control
Retirement community security concerns begin at the front door. Access control measures are ubiquitous in assisted living settings—decision-makers reading this will almost certainly have some form of access control already. Make sure your access control system is up to date so that building access is limited to authorized personnel, staff, residents, and approved visitors.
Savvy criminals may easily circumvent decades-old card readers, keypads, or fobs. Thankfully, electronic access control systems are becoming more secure and affordable. If you’ve not done so recently, verify your current system is up-to-date with minimal vulnerabilities.
Surveillance Systems and Monitoring
Once again, it is likely that your facility already has a surveillance system in place. Like access control systems, your surveillance technology could become dated and unreliable over time. It’s essential to review the latest solutions implemented by other assisted living facilities, and adopt methods that will keep your retirement home residents safe.
Installing new cameras in high-risk areas can address security concerns in your retirement community. Many assisted living facilities have added in-room monitoring to provide real-time assistance for at-risk residents. New monitoring capabilities—including smartphone integrations and instant alerts—are being developed yearly to help resolve incidents quickly. Any recorded data related to resident surveillance should be securely stored with appropriate measures to protect against hackers.
The Role of Security Guards in Retirement Communities
Uniformed guards help address retirement community security concerns through their visible presence, surveillance, and patrols. Guards are most often deployed to access points and vulnerable spots that may present security threats. This type of basic deployment would be the same for a warehouse or convenience store; the unique challenges facing retirement communities mean that guards must implement additional measures to keep residents safe.
Community Engagement & Awareness
Your residents and their families must see deployed guards as a benefit; otherwise, the resulting friction may prevent guards from doing their jobs. Be sure to consult your community and establish standards for safety and security. Some communities prefer the presence of armed guards to address life-threatening security issues. Other retirement facilities may conclude that their residents will feel threatened by an armed presence on-site.
Listen to your residents and their families, and deploy guards appropriate for your community. If your community prefers minimal on-site security, be sure to supplement guard deployments with additional surveillance technology as needed.
Emergency Preparedness Plans
Developing comprehensive emergency plans for scenarios like natural disasters, security breaches, and medical emergencies is essential. Security guards can play a crucial role in safeguarding residents and staff during emergencies.
Many guards take supplementary training in emergency response, first aid, and fire watch. As you develop your on-site safety and security solutions, consider what capabilities you’d like your guards to arrive with. More capable, highly-trained guards typically charge more per hour, but provide peace of mind that basic unarmed guard services cannot offer.
Health & Wellness Security Measures
Your residents’ health is a primary concern at all times. Having additional staff on-site to respond to medical emergencies improves response times, limits liability, and provides a sense of safety for residents.
You most likely have monitoring systems in place already. One of the best things about guards is their flexibility with respect to your existing safety and security systems. New construction, changing weather conditions, or power outages may create hazards that your existing elderly resident safety solutions cannot accommodate. A guard—even one deployed temporarily—can cover any gaps to ensure the safety of your residents 24/7.
Contact The Guard Alliance
If keeping retirement home residents safe is your responsibility, you know that comprehensive security solutions are required to address community concerns and ensure the health and safety of everyone on site. Security guards are a flexible solution that can complement your existing safety infrastructure and cover any gaps that may result from changing conditions on your property. Guards with specialized training can enhance your on-site response times and assist during emergencies.
The Guard Alliance has been proud to provide security and fire watch services to retirement communities for over a decade. Our guards deploy to communities across the USA and can arrive within hours in most regions. If you need guards to help secure your assisted living facility today, contact The Guard Alliance—our team members will be happy to assist.
