EmergencyTech.org

I know this is a bit dated, but I’m cleaning out the old “Stuff to Blog” folder.

Two rocket scientists EMS workers over at the London Ambulance Service have, rightly, become laughing stocks after their recent attempt at circumnavigating the British Isles because their on-board GPS moving map display told them to:

The crew had been tasked with taking the male patient 12 miles across Essex from King George Hospital in Ilford to Mascalls Park Hospital near Brentwood - a 12 mile journey which should have taken about 30 minutes.

But a fault in the ambulance’s on-board satellite navigation system sent the London Ambulance Service crew on an eight-hour round trip to Manchester.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said the crew set off in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They didn’t reach Mascalls Park Hospital until the early afternoon.

He said the crew hadn’t been to Mascalls Park before and only realised they were heading in the wrong direction when they reached the outskirts of Manchester.

Sure, the crew blames it on a problem with the technology, but we all know what really happened. Didn’t these fine fellows ever learn the old saw, “treat the patient, not the monitor?” And, if so, don’t they think that the same might hold true for other pieces of equipment?

(Reminds me of the old “Mondi Map Display” I used to have when I worked in Cheektowaga. -ed.)

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As if 911 dispatchers and call-takers weren’t already overwhelmed by increasing call volumes, staffing and training issues, and a general “fog of war” approach to system status management Florida’s PowerPhone has announced software that promises to ad a new type of data to handle, images.

The system capitalizes on the 370.5 million cameraphones in use today–50% of those in use everall–a number that promises to increase to nearly 87% of all cellular phones in use by 2010. PowerPhone’s Computer Aided Call Handling software package can enable callers to send pictures from their camera-enabled handsets to dispatchers who then log them and forward information to responders.

PowerPhone’s CPD system works like this: a citizen calls from his cell phone to report an emergency or suspicious activity—let’s say he’s spotted a missing child who the police issued an Amber Alert for. The caller dials 9-1-1 to report the sighting and says he can send a picture of the child for verification. The call handler sends an e-mail message to the caller’s cell phone from PowerPhone’s Total Response® Computer Aided Call Handlingâ„¢ software. The caller then replies to this message with the photo attached. Total Response stores the photo in the incident record for easy reference.

By following this process, the 9-1-1 center ensures that photos are linked with the appropriate records of the citizen’s 9-1-1 call. Even more important, this process discourages citizens from randomly sending photos into the 9-1-1 center-an arrangement that can lead to pranks and other abuses of the system.

As with any new implementation there are several potential benefits and stumbling points to note:

• The ability to forward immediate images of suspects, vehicles, license plates, even call locations to responders could prove invaluable. It could mean the difference between finding a location and not in some situations.
• The increase in data that will have to be handled by the dispatchers and dispatching systems could prove immense. As camera resolution increases so does the file size of images and video clips. Additionally, the more the community becomes aware of this technology, the more data must be sifted through and tagged which requires a robust and secure cataloguing and file-management system.
• Errors and delays in data transmission could slow or complicate responses if users become dependant.
• This could be integrated with a comprehensive data reporting and management system for responders that would allow smooth transmission of image data from eyewitness to trauma room.
• If this could work both ways dispatchers could forward detailed image or video-based prearrival instructions to callers who are called on to perform CPR or other lifesaving interventions.
• Early adoption of these types of technologies would help pave the way for emerging ones by providing infrastructure and hands-on proof-of-concept.
• If developed the images could be tagged with geographical information such as GPS coordinates or tie in with other location-based 911 systems like those from Verizon.

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Further proving the value of low-cost (read: “free”), publicly available, accurate geospatial and geographic information systems data for both emergency responders and the general public, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has honored the team that provided near-constant updates as the events related to Hurricane Katrina unfolded. Before Google Earth most GIS resources were poorly-updated and/or prohibitively expensive.

From the Official Google Blog:

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast almost a year ago, people across the country and around the world wondered how to help. Many donated money; others lent their homes to dislocated survivors. A group of Googlers lent their expertise by leveraging the power of Google technology.

Over several long nights, the teams from Google Earth and Google Maps created satellite imagery overlays of the devastation in the affected region, which showed more accurately the scope of the disaster. Soon after, we were told that rescue workers and the U.S. Air Force were using Google Earth to find people who were stranded.

And last week, we received formal recognition from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Members of the NGA presented the “Hurricane Katrina Recognition Award” to the Google Earth team, as well as the Google Enterprise and Global Support groups, for their direct support during the Katrina disaster. Individual recipients included Brian McClendon, Andria McCool, Wayne Thai, Charlie Chapin, Michael Ashbridge, Chikai Ohazama, Lenette Howard, and Rob Painter, along with two folks from Carnegie Mellon University who assisted us: Randy Sargent and Anne Wright. We’re pleased to be recognized in this way — but even more pleased that we could help.

Via Ogle Earth.

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