Bay Surgery Center

Location: Oakland, CA

Segment: Healthcare

Challenge: Safeguarding the entire surgery center’s advanced technology from uncertain utility power.

Solution: Eaton FERRUPS, Service

Results: Power protection and service plan that meets strict Medicare requirements, allows critical technology to operate continuously, and enables surgeons and staff to focus on surgery cases.

Bay Surgery Center opened its doors in 2002 with the goal of providing superior quality service and cost-effective surgical and pain management services. The multi-specialty, free-standing ambulatory surgery center was developed under the strict guidelines required for Medicare certification. Priding itself on its state-of-the-art facility— which utilizes the most modern surgical equipment available— the center is dedicated to incorporating constantly changing medical technology to ensure excellence in healthcare. While many organizations view their power protection solution as mission-critical, for Bay Surgery Center, it is truly a matter of life-or-death. That’s why, when it comes to ensuring continuous uptime, an Eaton FERRUPS uninterruptible power system (UPS) and Eaton service plan have proven to be just what the doctor ordered.

For more than a decade, a 5.3 kVA FERRUPS UPS has been tasked with safeguarding the plethora of medical equipment within the Oakland, California, facility. “It protects everything that’s critical in the entire surgery center, from our advanced technology high-definition arthroscopy tower to all patient monitors, X-ray machines and more,” explains Thomas Durick, MD, medical director for Bay Surgery Center. Delivering unmatched reliability and extensive configurability options, the FERRUPS not only safeguards equipment against the most common power problems such as sags, surges and line noise, but also prevents the back feed of harmonic currents into building wiring, which can disrupt equipment operations. Furthermore, the UPS features Active Voltage Regulation, which converts power from almost any AC source into computer-grade power.

“It’s a great unit,” Durick reports. “I have absolutely no fears that if the power went out, we’d be able to finish any case we were doing here.” The medical director can stake that claim with assurance, considering that the center has, in fact, unexpectedly lost utility power while in the midst of critical surgeries and other medical procedures.“ I never really knew if the UPS system was worth it or not, until it covered us during a power failure,” Durick acknowledges. “To be in the middle of cases and have PG&E (power) go out, but then be able to finish the cases – that was when I definitely knew.”

Since it was installed more than a decade ago, the FERRUPS has remained in optimal health thanks to a service plan from Eaton, which includes regularly scheduled preventive maintenance performed by a knowledgeable and highly skilled field technician. To meet the varied needs of customers, Eaton offers a wide variety of service plans, including standard warranty, extended warranty, preventive maintenance, numerous service contract levels, and time and material billing. Many also feature value-added support such as remote monitoring, 24x7 coverage, and response times ranging from two to eight hours or next-day response —an especially appealing benefit for customers in mission-critical environments.

With its plan, Bay Surgery Center receives an annual Preventive Maintenance (PM) inspection of the unit and its batteries. For years, the same Eaton field technician has been performing a thorough physical on the unit, including running comprehensive tests at various load levels. The surgery center’s power draw fluctuates greatly. “If we have an X-ray running in one room, the load could be significantly greater at any given time,” he explains. “Depending on the equipment we’re using, our usage is really up and down.” Emphasizing that the technician is extremely knowledgeable, personable and flexible, Durick says that Eaton “always takes the time to ensure that I understand how system works. I actually look forward to the visits,” he adds. “I feel like I’m always going to learn something.” And that is especially vital, considering that Bay Surgery Center is a Medicare-certified facility. As such, the site is subject to unannounced inspections during which rigorous surveys are administered and requirements are verified. Among Medicare’s provisions is the stipulation that the center’s UPS solution have adequate backup power for doctors to complete their longest possible case in the event of a complete blackout at the facility. “Medicare will have people out here for anywhere from one to three days going over all policies and procedures,” Durick explains. “You have to be educated and know how your system works and be able to relay that information to your staff,” he says. “If you don’t know, they’re going to destroy you.”

Fortunately for Bay Surgery Center, that has never been an issue. “The Eaton field technician knows that UPS, in and out,” Durick emphasizes. “When I ask a question about whether or not it is an adequate system for us, I was showed how to work the panel, which gave me the insight that it more than meets our needs and Medicare requirements.” Aside from replacing the unit’s batteries when they were approaching the end of their useful life, Bay Surgery Center hasn’t encountered a single sick day with its UPS. “We’ve had nothing out of the ordinary,” Durick confirms. Pointing out that while California no longer experiences regular rolling blackouts like it did in previous years, the Anesthesiologist acknowledges that you can never be certain that the utility will provide clean, uninterrupted power at all times. That’s why Durick is so grateful for the expertise — and bedside manner —provided by his Eaton service technician. “It is much more than just coming in to do a PM call and getting out,” Durick says. “The fact that I’m willing to take time out of my incredibly busy day to praise our system should speak volumes!”