2022-April-20

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Transforming a Hospital in Cracow, Poland

BY MARIUSZ KAZMIERSKI · PRINCIPAL ENGINEER · POLAND

WITH JERRY SOVERINSKY

4 MINUTE READ · 7 MINUTE LISTEN

When it came to helping children with life-threatening illnesses unrelated to COVID-19 in 2020, the onset of the pandemic created an unexpected paradox: At no time was the need for assistance greater.

But at no time were the obstacles to providing support more challenging.

It’s against this backdrop that we began our journey. Connected Poland Co-Lead Greg Iwan introduced Michael Krzysik and me to an initiative to renovate a garden at the University Children’s Hospital Cracow.

Women of Cisco volunteers bring Christmas gifts to hospital patients in December 2021.

As Poland’s largest pediatric hospital in the country’s south, the 500-bed facility supports 200,000 ambulatory visits each year, treating children with the most advanced forms of severe diseases. Its history traces to 1835, and it is the world’s third oldest pediatric hospital.

The mission was heartfelt for all of us; with strong affinities for Cisco’s giving back mission, we saw no better way to use our Time2Give hours than supporting sick children.

While our initial efforts stalled as COVID-19 swept rapidly across the globe, we connected with Cisco Poland Giving Back co-lead Adriana Lisowska. She proposed alternative ways that we could support the hospital.

Though cultivating a garden was important, we learned that the hospital had profound technology infrastructure shortcomings that we could quickly address first.

And so, in early 2020, through the orchestration of Adriana, the hospital’s director signed an official Memorandum of Understanding with Cisco to initiate a series of projects that would overhaul the hospital’s aging technology infrastructure.

Rather than a one-off charity initiative, the Memorandum outlined an ongoing series of projects that touched on every facet of the hospital’s communication needs: Wi-Fi, collaboration, security, and mobile networking. It was time to get to work.

Providing a speedy internet connection

Cisco Engineer Kasia Prusak surveys the hospital to get the Wi-Fi running.

We began by working with CX Professional Services Engineers in conducting a Wireless Site Survey for the hospital’s oncology ward, whose unreliable, legacy system needed an upgrade.

Through the generous funding of Cisco Grants, the equipment is in its late-stage curation. Its beneficiaries — hospital staff members, patients, patient families — will be able to experience speedy and reliable surfing and browsing. Due to supply chain issues, the equipment is set to arrive in approximately six months.

As part of this effort, we also connected the hospital with one of Cisco’s Poland-based partners, Kontakt.io, which donates IoT sensors that will provide tight integration between the hospital’s oncology ward and its new Cisco wireless solution.

The impact of these efforts allows patients to stream movies (relatively) glitch free and hospital staff to find the information they need quickly and without disruption.

Sharing video-conferencing tools

Meanwhile, Cisco’s Warsaw-based sales team procured 10 Cisco Webex DX80s, which allowed hospital staff to communicate with other hospitals and coordinate virtually during the pandemic.

Strengthening signal connection

With its fortress-like construction — some of the hospital’s original brickwork remains — the hospital lacks access to strong and consistent LTE/5G coverage.

Coverage ebbs and flows depending on one’s location in the hospital, a critical shortcoming for patients who cannot leave the building, not to mention for hospital staff for whom reliable connectivity is essential to critical decision-making.

With major assistance from our Warsaw sales team, we’ve partnered with T-Mobile Warsaw to assess the hospital’s needs in developing a long-term solution.

Launching cybersecurity training

With shiny, new Wi-Fi, Webex, and ubiquitous signal coverage, the hospital will also need beefy security.

That’s why we leveraged the talents of Cisco’s Security Operation Center, which will launch a series of cybersecurity trainings for hospital staff beginning later this year. The trainings will ensure compliance with stringent privacy laws and instruct users on best practices to help protect the hospital’s network and endpoints from evolving threats.

Renovating the interior

Cisco Poland volunteers renovate the hospital.

On a less technical but no less significant note, we’ve begun a massive aesthetic renovation of the hospital’s interior.

With the help of more than 150 Cisco volunteers, many of whom have personal histories and associations with the hospital, we are pursuing the painstaking task of renovating the hospital’s aging rooms.

Working with paint and supplies provided by the hospital, we’ve been shoring up drywall, applying fresh paint, and adding furnishings where permitted and appropriate.

Since our project began, we’ve already spent more than 1,000 collective hours making a positive impact on the hospital, bringing a bit of aesthetic cheer and warmth to the hospital’s otherwise dull interior.

In less than two years, we’ve expanded our original focus from creating a modest garden to implementing comprehensive improvements to one of Poland’s largest children’s hospitals. While we’ve made tremendous progress, I feel that our work — in a sense — is just beginning.

Each small task unveils additional opportunities to support children who face unimaginable challenges. And with Cisco’s help, we will continue to make a positive impact on their lives and on the lives of those around them.