The week before, a capacity-filled room watched as an oncologist presented the latest treatments in breast cancer. The specialist was not physically on site at the Tully Health Center, but was able to deliver his lecture and to answer questions from the audience through the center’s videoconferencing capabilities, which includes two wall-mounted Sony EVI-D30 color cameras and high-speed ISDN lines for data transmission. The remote video feeds into the Sony LCD projector, which displays an image of the remote location on one screen, while a second image, or picture in picture, shows audience members what is being viewed at the other location.

This is not the future being described, but the current capabilities of the Daniel and Grace Tully and Family Health Center. The center, which officially opened in late summer of 2002, serves as a community medical facility. A part of the Stamford Health System in Stamford, CT, the outpatient facility offers centers for immediate care, surgery, diagnostic imaging, wound care, family medicine, corporate health, and behavioral medicine. There is also a health and fitness institute and a Women’s Breast Center. Additionally, doctor’s offices are on site.

As part of its resolution to be an all-encompassing community health resource, the Tully Center was designed with an auditorium that would host various educational presentations for the community-at-large, as well as provide in-house staff with audiovisual capabilities that would carry it well into the 21st century.

To help realize its potential, the auditorium features cutting-edge Sony technology, including the VPL-FX50 LCD projector, two PFM-42B1 plasma display screens, and two Sony EVI-D30 color cameras for videoconferencing. The auditorium also includes Sony’s VPL-PX31 LCD projector for when only the back section of the room is being used.

“Stamford Health System is committed to providing education for its own staff and for the community,” says Clara Grande, A/V coordinator and library technician, the Stamford Hospital. “Whether we are building facilities or upgrading existing ones, we make sure that we include as much of the new technology as possible.”

FULL POTENTIAL

To help the Stamford Health System realize its vision for the Tully Health Center, HB Communications of North Haven, CT, an audio-visual systems integrator that handled the color cameras from Sony, stayed within their budget constraints, and gave them the ability to grow their capabilities.”

The Tully Center’s audiovisual system has been designed for every exigency. “We can show videos, DVDs, slides, conduct audio- and video-conferencing, and will ultimately have access to cable television, which will be shown through the Sony LCD projector,”
says Grande.

The Tully Center’s auditorium can be divided into two auditoriums, one large and one small, or kept as one very big room. As one room, it measures 75-feet long by 45-feet wide at the widest point to 24 feet at the narrowest point.

“One of the nice things about the design is that because it is divisible, it can accommodate large and small audiences,” says Hutton. “The auditorium can host two separate functions at the same time, since there is a divisible wall and dedicated visual displays on each side of the space.”

The rooms are designed to work independently or together as one room from an A/V system standpoint as well. Each room features a lectern, a sound system, leading edge Sony visual display systems, and an equipment rack. The custom-designed lectern contains an AMX control touch panel, a built-in PC with a local monitor, a document camera connection, access ports for laptops, a gooseneck microphone, and a light.

The concept behind the auditorium’s design was to install as many permanent fixtures as possible, says Grande, thereby eliminating the need for a mobile cart with a slide projector, VCR and TV being wheeled in for different presentations or events. “All the different equipment used during an audiovisual presentation are controlled through the touch panel located on the lectern, making it very simple for presenters and seamless for the audience,” says Grande.

The larger auditorium can accommodate 100 people and is designed for video and computer presentations and audioand videoconferencing. The smaller-sized auditorium, which holds 50 people, is capable of presentation display and sound reinforcement. It is self-sufficient with its own system sources and sound system.

The large auditorium includes the front-projected Sony VPL-FX50 LCD projector that retracts from above the finished ceiling on a video projector lift. The projector displays an image 10 feet, six inches x 14 feet.

“We—HB and the Tully Center—chose the Sony VPL-FX50 for the larger area and the VPL-FX31 for the smaller room because of their incredible brightness and clarity of image on a large display screen,” says Hutton. “Because the audience would be viewing everything from fine line graphics to doctors at remote locations, we needed to make sure that the image was as clear as possible. The Sony projectors consistently provide that clarity.”

SIMPLE CHOICES

The Sony EVI-D30 cameras, mounted on the auditorium walls, provide videoconferencing capabilities. “The EVI-D30 cameras are easy to control with the AMX system and provide a high-resolution image under all lighting conditions,” explains Hutton.

The Sony cameras are also programmed with pre-sets tilting, panning, or focusing, an important feature of the system, says Grande. “If a doctor is running a videoconference and or she doesn’t know how to control the Sony camera using the AMX system, the doctor can hit a pre-set and the camera will automatically go to a specified shot,” she explains. “But the doctor can also manually control the camera via the AMX as the video conference is happening. The system gives the host a choice.”

All of the system’s microphones connect to a Gentner XAP800 mixer/processor for audio- and videoconferencing audio distribution. There is a lectern microphone, two wireless microphones, and five floor boxes with microphone connections.

When the rooms are combined, the projector and screen in the large auditorium and the two ceiling mounted 42-inch (viewable area, measured diagonally) Sony PFM-42B1 displays retract from above the finished ceiling to provide coverage for the rear section of the room.

“We needed something that offered high resolution and excellent brightness and contrast,” says Hutton. “That is why we installed the Sony plasma flat-panel monitors. With a resolution of 1,024 x 1,024, they offer sharp, detailed images. An extra-added bonus is the anti-reflection coating on the monitor’s glass panel, which reduces light reflection and provides even clearer, higher-contrast pictures.”

According to Hutton, the biggest design obstacle of the Tully Center’s system was the ceiling height of the auditorium. To resolve the problem, the projection screens are fitted with extra drop and the two Sony LCD projectors are outfitted with lifts so they can retract from the ceiling to their display height.

The plasma monitors are housed on motorized plasma mounts that retract from the ceiling and extend down to their display height.

DAZZLING POSSIBILITIES

The audiovisual system of the auditorium has opened the door to a dazzling number of possibilities for the Tully Center.

“One of the first events we did was a women’s health day, in early September, in which we had several speakers, lunch, and booths set up where participants could pick up information,” explains Grande. “It was the first time the entire auditorium was used—we had a great turnout. Everyone has just been thrilled with the facility.”

But it is videoconferencing, in particular, that offers the greatest potential, says Grande. The human resource department plans to use videoconferencing to meet job candidates from around the world who can’t travel to the center for a face-to-face interview. Also, cable television shows on the latest medical advancements will soon be available to the staff. And doctors at the Tully Center look forward to participating in other hospitals’ grand rounds, where experts in various medical fields are invited to share their expertise with the audience.

“Over the 20 years I have been here, audiovisual technology has changed considerably,” recalls Grande. “When I first started with A/V services, it meant delivering a slide projector or a VCR or a television. Now we are using Sony LCD projectors and plasma monitors, and laptops and push-button control from the lectern. We have capabilities that I would have never dreamed of.”

The new technological capabilities have opened up the world to the Tully Center, and the Tully Center to the world. “It is a world without walls,” says Grande.