Connecting Two OB/GYN Sites with Secure UniFi SD-WAN

Background

Founded in 1988, Dr. Gustavo Vazquez’s family-run practices in Puerto Rico serve a diverse patient base through two clinics—one in Rio Piedras and another in Ashford Medical Center, Condado. Specializing in obstetrics, gynecology, women’s health, hormone replacement therapy, and general medicine, the clinics employ 30 staff, including six physicians.

Like many private healthcare providers on the island, Dr. Vazquez inherited a system plagued by unreliable power, frequent internet outages, and outdated IT infrastructure. His return from medical training in New York highlighted the gap between mainland U.S. healthcare technology standards and what was available locally.

The journey began with UniFi access points, chosen to overcome Puerto Rico’s concrete-heavy construction, where each exam room required its own AP. What started as a simple Wi-Fi upgrade quickly evolved into a full-stack UniFi deployment supporting mission-critical operations.

Organization Requirements

The clinics needed a technology solution that could overcome three primary challenges:

• Infrastructure Resilience: Maintain operations during frequent hurricanes, power surges, and ISP outages.
• Security and Compliance: Replace failed legacy camera systems, enable HIPAA-compliant data management, and ensure reliable access control.
• Operational Efficiency: Support modern web-based EMR systems, billing, and communications, while introducing features like time tracking and digital signage.

Why UniFi

UniFi was selected because it directly addressed these requirements with simplicity, scalability, and resilience.

• License-Free Ownership: No recurring hardware fees, eliminating vendor lock-in common in healthcare IT.
• All-in-One Management: A unified dashboard for cameras, access, networking, and telephony, reducing the need for dedicated IT staff.
• Resilient Infrastructure: PoE-powered devices with centralized battery backup prevented failures from power surges, while LTE failover and dual WAN lines ensured continuity during ISP outages.

Deployment

Core Networking and Redundancy

At the Rio Piedras clinic, a UniFi Dream Machine Pro provides central routing, firewall, and management. The second site runs on UniFi Cloud Key, with plans to upgrade to a Dream Machine Pro for parity. The deployment includes:

• Dual ISPs with LTE backup for uninterrupted connectivity.
• PoE Switches (including Ultra and 2.5G models) powering cameras, APs, and access devices with integrated surge protection and UPS.
• Wi-Fi 7 Access Points (U7 Pro) deployed in concrete-reinforced buildings to provide reliable coverage across exam rooms.
• Fiber Backhaul planned to link core switches, ensuring 10G speeds and streamlined cabling for scalability.

Security and Surveillance with UniFi Protect

Legacy camera systems failed under Puerto Rico’s power surges, leaving clinics vulnerable. Protect replaced these systems with durable PoE cameras.

• Survived multiple outages without failure.
• Integrated directly into the same UniFi dashboard used for networking.
• Extended coverage beyond the clinics—via building-to-building antennas—to remote locations like employee parking lots.

Access Control and Workforce Management

With 30 staff across two sites, time tracking and secure access were critical.

• UniFi Access doubled as both access control and an employee timekeeping system, eliminating hundreds of dollars in recurring costs from third-party solutions.
• Unified login and monitoring simplified management while bolstering HIPAA compliance efforts.

Communications with UniFi Talk

Call volumes strained the clinics’ ability to respond to patients. Transitioning to UniFi Talk modernized telephony operations.

• Staff and physicians can receive patient calls directly through UniFi phones.
• Call routing and forwarding features help distribute load across staff.
• Transition is ongoing, with Dr. Vazquez emphasizing the need for bulletproof reliability before full adoption.

Patient Experience with UniFi Connect

Digital signage was introduced to enhance waiting rooms and exam rooms.

• Displays provide educational content on women’s health and available services.
• Flexible configuration allows mixing health education with entertainment during long procedures.

Additional Solutions and Expansion

• Site Magic SD-WAN: Connects the Rio Piedras and Condado clinics seamlessly, enabling synchronized operations across locations.
• Planned NAS Integration: Future project to host a local database for EMR independence, with AI-assisted data management.
• Building-to-Building Antennas: Extend network coverage to off-site areas like parking lots, integrating remote surveillance into the same platform.

Conclusion

For private healthcare providers in Puerto Rico, maintaining reliable connectivity and security is not optional—it’s mission-critical. UniFi enabled Dr. Vazquez’s clinics to scale modern operations across two sites, safeguard against outages, and improve both patient and staff experiences.

By consolidating networking, security, access, communications, and digital signage into one unified system, the clinics achieved enterprise-grade capabilities without enterprise overhead.

The deployment not only ensures day-to-day reliability but also positions the clinics for future innovation—whether integrating AI-driven patient data management, expanding site connectivity, or scaling up as private practice resists consolidation by hospital networks.