Bay County EMS director Corky Young was on his way to work a few days ago when his in-vehicle laptop alerted him to a 911 medical call three blocks from his location. He veered off his path and was standing at the caller’s door before dispatch had finished taking the person’s information.
Such prompt service would have been impossible a mere two weeks ago. Computer-aided dispatch software created by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and recently adopted by other emergency responders is decreasing crisis response times, saving taxpayers’ money and increasing communication among departments.
In the two weeks since EMS has been on the system, Young said average response times have decreased by 10 to 15 percent — shortening the time it takes for a call to be dispatched to the first unit arriving on scene by an average of 50 seconds in Panama City and 60 seconds or more in the county.
“In a life threatening situation, every second counts,” he said. “My 33 years of experience have shown me the faster someone gets on the scene and the better we can all get along the more lives we’re going to save.”
Moving to the CAD system created by BCSO’s Capt. Joel Heape and technical support assistant Jack Hughes also saved a lot of money. A year ago, EMS knew it would need to update the hardware and software of the dispatch system.
To bring everything up-to-date was going to cost $150,000 to $200,000, with $30,000 annually to maintain, Young said. The BCSO system was provided to EMS, with customization to make the law enforcement system medically friendly, without charge.
The software was compatible with existing computers and though some upgrades were purchased — including GPS trackers for the response vehicles — the price tag was less than 10 percent of the cost of a total upgrade and was fully funded through a grant.
The CAD system used by BCSO for more than a decade is custom-made for the department, Maj. Tommy Ford said. It has been updated and expanded continuously through the years, and if it were sold now it would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For years the technology has offered a significant cost savings to BCSO and the convenience of having 24/7 technical support. But rather than hording the technology for themselves, Sheriff Frank McKeithen and Heape have given the software to other agencies including Jackson County and the Marianna Police Department.
Until recently it wasn’t practical for other Bay County agencies to adopt the Sheriff’s Office CAD system — Bay County Fire Services, animal control and EMS all had their own protocol for dispatch, the software was not immediately compatible for their uses and not all departments had the necessary technology.
But after dispatch services were consolidated at the new Emergency Operations Center, as software expired and departments upgraded, the sheriff’s CAD has been phased in.
Fire Services went onto the system in early 2010 when it was due for an upgrade, said Joby Smith, Bay County communications division manager. Upgrading the system was going to cost $63,000 and an additional $12,000 to $13,000 annually for maintenance.
The most significant advantage to BCSO’s CAD is increased speed and efficiency, Smith said. All 911 calls, except those made from a land line in Panama City, are routed through the Sheriff’s Office dispatch; in the past, operators there would collect information and get law enforcement en route before transferring the person to EMS or fire services, where another operator would take all the same information and then dispatch their units.
It was redundant and slow, BCSO communications director Rob Fortner said. Under the new system, 911 dispatchers gather information once and with the click of a button send it to every department that needs to respond. They can then transfer the call to the proper place for other dispatchers to gather additional information, but units are already en route.
For certain priority calls, manual dispatch isn’t even required: As soon as the information is in the computer, the system automatically dispatches all the needed units.
Information is also updated on the in-vehicle computers in real time as dispatchers type it in. Previously the dispatcher would have to take the information, type it into the computer then relay it over the radio, Ford said. This allows information to get out faster, provides responders with more complete information and increases accountability.
“We can come back the next day or five years later and see what information was related to that officer,” Ford said.
Calls are coded by department, zone and progress in the vehicle computers, so any user can see what every department is doing at a given time, which Ford said increases situational awareness for everyone. For instance, if a deputy is on the scene of a crash, he can tell if EMS has been dispatched, where they are and when they are expected to arrive, with the touch of a button.
Units can respond in advance of even being dispatched if they think they might be needed, Smith said, or can call an already responding unit and offer assistance.
“No one is going blind into anything,” BCSO dispatch supervisor Drake Adams said.
Source:http://www.waltonsun.com/news/new-93114-newsherald-software-arriving.html
