Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has selected Road Runner Business Class to provide high-speed internet services for its patients in each of its 198 patient rooms in Building A, as well as two connections in the Family Resource Center and five connections in designated common areas of Building A. Cincinnati Children's is the only hospital in the region to offer high-speed internet service in patient rooms.
"We strive to provide our patients and their families with the highest level of service and amenities," says David Anderson, vice president of Family Relations at Cincinnati Children's. "We are pleased to add Road Runner to our list of technology offerings."
"The solution that we created for Children's Hospital is just another example of Time Warner Cable's ability to think innovatively and creatively," says Rick Human, vice president of Road Runner Business Class. "We worked with Children's Hospital to design a solution that works for them. When any customer looks to us for a solution to a business need, we help to fill the need by letting the client get involved. We don't force a 'one-size-fits-all' product."
Road Runner Business Class installed a custom Hospitality Suite package for Cincinnati Children's, enabling patients and families to connect to the internet at speeds of up to 1.5Mbps downstream and 1.5Mbps upstream.
"Road Runner Business Class makes the process of getting online effortless," says Sean Strapp, director of Telecommunications at Cincinnati Children's. "Our patients and families simply plug in their laptops and they can get online."
Many patients have debilitating diseases that require long-term hospital stays, including those with Cystic Fibrosis and cancer. Often, these patients are confined to their room and don't have access to traditional school classrooms. Road Runner broadband service offers these patients the fastest access to worldwide information, school teachers, and class work to complete or turn in.
"Before Road Runner was here, when I needed to go online for school I had to use a dial-up connection. I connected to the internet through the phone line and wasn't able to call my teacher if I had any questions or problems," says Tina Carkido, Cystic Fibrosis patient at Cincinnati Children's and a junior enrolled in online classes at OHDELA (Ohio Distance and Electronic Learning Academy), a online charter public school for students in grades K-12. "With their new Road Runner service, I won't have any of those problems anymore and I can be sure that my school work will get to my teachers quickly and easily right from my hospital room."
"We've configured the network in Cincinnati Children's to be very smart," says Jim Butler, director of Technology for Road Runner Business Class. "The end-user doesn't have to be a computer whiz to connect to the Web. Our equipment will sense how their computer was last connected to the Internet, and it will automatically configure itself to match the computer's network settings -- they won't have to change a thing. It makes it very convenient for them."
But if there are difficulties in integrating a computer, guests have access to 24/7 support via a direct phone number.
"One of the hospital's strategic focuses is the use of technology and how that impacts our patients," says James M. Anderson, president and CEO at Cincinnati Children's. "In addition to offering the latest advancements in medicine, we now offer the best advancements in technology to our patients and families so they are able to comfortably maintain their lives during their stay with us."
Road Runner Business Class, a service of Time Warner Cable, is the nation's number one commercial cable broadband provider for every business -- from home-based to the enterprise. Road Runner Business Class solutions are available throughout southwest Ohio, serving urban, suburban, and rural businesses. Established in Greater Cincinnati in 2000, Road Runner Business Class and serves more than 4,000 businesses with solutions that range from high-speed Internet access and email to complete hospitality solutions for hotels or secure VPN solutions for enterprises.
Time Warner Cable, Inc. owns and manages the most technologically advanced, best-clustered cable television operations in 27 states with more than 75 percent of its 10.9 million customers in systems of 300,000 subscribers or more. Utilizing a fully upgraded advanced cable network and a steadfast commitment to providing consumers with choice, value and world-class customer service, Time Warner Cable is an industry leader in delivering advanced products and services. It is a division of Time Warner, Inc.
Locally, Time Warner Cable's Cincinnati Division is proud to lead the way in meeting the entertainment and information needs of Greater Cincinnati communities. Our state-of-the-art fiber optic network provides nearly 350,000 customers with superior picture quality, enhanced reliability and expanded programming options, including Digital Cable, iCONTROL Video-On-Demand, high definition television, digital video recorders, a choice of Internet Service Providers for high speed Internet access, including Road Runner and Earthlink, as well as wireless home networking. Time Warner Cable serves 139 communities, more than 500 schools and locally employs nearly 1,000 people.
