Mass Text Messaging EMS Personnel

[wrmedic82]

Back in the day when I used to volunteer we used Motorola Minator 4 pagers which were tone activated, and allowed dispatch to talk directly to all volunteers via the radio. It would give an annoying chirp so you couldnt ignore it if your tone was sounded. It worked great for our purposes however we didnt run very many calls (maybe 400 a year). Where I work now we do that in a day (the EMS organization not me personally) so it wouldnt be ideal. Check what your communication centers capabilities are before cutting the check.

Edited April 17, 2009 by wrmedic82

[Timmy]

In Victoria, Australia the Ambulance Service and Fire Service use EAS paging.

We use infostream Xstream pagers. They have three folders an emergency folder, non emergency folder and administration folder.

I think the Ambulance Service has 5000 employees and the Fire Service has around 50,000 volunteers and 6,000 paid staff. I know the Fire Service has issued around 30,000 pagers based on your involvement. They can send admin messages to the 30,000 pagers all at once and emergency calls to different fire departments all at once.

In my area if we have a grass and scrub fire on a ‘hot response day’ meaning the fire weather conditions are extreme they automatically page 6 stations in the local area which will turn out 7 tankers all at once and send a page to around 50 volunteers (not all will turn up). In the recent black Saturday fires the comms center was receiving about 800 calls for help every hour, obviously it’s impossible to send this much help especially when your running out of appliances and the paging system did have a backlog of one hour but there’s not much you can do in this situation.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Timmy

[Richard B the EMT]

As I understand things, some of the Motorola paging systems, and other manufacturers, have pager systems that can single page an individual, group page small specific groups, and everyone on a general pageout.

[Richard B the EMT]

Courtesy of a Google search, concerning "Reverse 9-1-1 systems, I found the following...

http://www.co.augusta.va.us/Index.aspx?page=289

<h1 id="Title1_title"></h1>

<h1 id="Title1_title">Reverse 9-1-1 Emergency Notification System</h1> The Augusta County Emergency Communications Center is able to utilize a Reverse 9-1-1 system to enhance communications in the community and keep local citizens informed in the event of an emergency or disaster.

The Reverse 9-1-1 system is a computerized emergency notification system and software program installed in the communications center. In the event of an emergency or disaster, residences and businesses within Augusta County can be contacted by telephone with both emergency alerts and non-emergency information. A telecommunicator can record a message regarding a situation and send the message out to residences and businesses within a certain geographical area(s). The system will dial the telephone numbers of the selected locations and send out the pre-recorded message. When a person answers the telephone, they will hear a pre-recorded message involving the emergency. The message may contain special instructions to be followed by citizens in the area, so it is important to listen before hanging up. Some examples of emergencies or disasters during which the system may be used are flooding, events involving hazardous materials, missing children, and law enforcement events such as robberies and hostage situations.

The telephone numbers used in the system database are maintained by the Verizon Wireline Telephone Company. If you utilize a cellular phone as your home telephone or main contact number, your telephone number will not be in the data base utilized by the Reverse 9-1-1 system. If you would like to receive the pre-recorded messages on your cellular phone when emergencies occur in your residential or business area, please fill out the Emergency Form using the link on this page. You may fax the completed form to (540) 245-5506 to the attention of Director Donna Good or mail it to the address on the form.

IMPORTANT: The Reverse 9-1-1 Emergency Noticfication System is separate from our Enhanced 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone system. Although your cellular phone number and related information is entered into the Reverse 9-1-1 system for outbound notification from the communications center, your information cannot be added into the Enhanced 9-1-1- Emergency Telephone database.

If you call 9-1-1 from your cellular phone to report an emergency, the communication center may only receive the information for the closest wireless tower. It is important to provide all of the necessary information when calling 9-1-1 from your cellular phone.

[Richard B the EMT]

I thought I saw an article in either the New York Post, New York Daily News, or New York Newsday, of using the "Twitter" service to do mass notifications via texting clients (PDs, FDs and EMS agencies) with emergency messages, with the qualifier that personnel should then confirm by calling their service bases, in case of possible phony messages.

Unfortunately, going back 3 months on all 3 newspapers, I couldn't find any articles to reprint here.

Perhaps this might meet the needs of your department?

I don't even have a Twitter account, so I cannot say how effective this is.

[Richard B the EMT]

(from the jems e-newsletter)

http://www.jems.com/news_and_articles/arti...MS+eNews+052109

Communicate with a Mass Notification System</H4>

• <LI class=author>Ann-Marie Lindstrom
  
• 2009 May 20
  

Have you ever been on a call that turned into a news story? Maybe you were involved in assisting victims of a hazardous substance with TV cameras rolling. If so, you may have wished you could assure your family that you were OK. Or maybe there was a severe weather incident that left you concerned about your own family's welfare while on the job.

That's where a mass notification system can help.

Lacey (Wash.) Fire District 3 (LFD) uses its mass notification system to alert families of their EMS and fire personnel when their loved one is engaged in an unusual event, such as a mass-casualty incident (MCI). In addition, the families are asked to contact the district if they are injured during a major incident, such as an MCI.

Both are examples of a user customizing a mass notification system to meet their unique requirements.

LFD also uses its Wide Area Rapid Notification (WARN) Command system for the more typical call for overtime personnel or reserve staff. WARN is a partner with MIR3, which provides the engine and technology for the system.

It's clear mass notification systems have grown past the reverse 9-1-1 model of alerting the public to weather, criminal activity, evacuation orders or missing children. "Yes, it does that, too, but much more," says MIR3 Executive Vice President Ken Dixon.

Dixon says he isn't surprised LFD has brought families into the loop with the mass notification system. MIR3's customers frequently come up with their own ideas of how to use the system.

MIR3 customers have the luxury of creating new ways to use the system because it's so easy to customize. LFD Division Chief Steven Brooks says, "It's absolutely easy to use. And it only takes about two hours a month to do any updates."

EMS Division Chief Mark Stone of Fire Department New York (FDNY) is another happy customer. "We had specific needs, and MIR3 matched those needs. They worked with us very closely to customize the system." Stone says the FDNY can call in fire and EMS personnel based on their qualifications -- such as requesting dignitary paramedics when heads of state come to the United Nations -- or proximity to an event -- such as first responders who live close to the incident.

Dixon explains that to begin the registration process, a customer uploads a data file of names, identifying category -- reserve, EMS, fire, civilian personnel or home ZIP code -- and contact information -- cell phone, landline telephone, e-mail, fax or Blackberry. When it's time for the agency to send out a notification, the system administratoror a designated initiator defines the criteria for people to call and creates the message. The MIR3 system simultaneously contacts all appropriate personnels' contact devices until it gets an answer. The staff at MIR3 is available to compose the message, if necessary.

Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) use an MIR3 system when they need someone with a specific skill. Dixon says the system will make calls until it finds someone who fills the necessary criteria, such as the ability to set a broken leg.

The MIR3 system creates an online documentation trail Dixon says can assist with post-event incident analysis. "It tracks everything. Who I called and when. What happened and when. You can review it all on the Web site."

Both Brooks and Stone commented on the added security of a Web-based system. If their communications systems were to go down for some reason, all they have to do is get Internet access to use the mass notification system.

MIR3 has several platforms, two of which -- inLocalAlert and inGovAlert -- are designed for first responders. Dixon says the main difference between the two is what he calls "the order of magnitude." InLocalAlert is intended for city-wide use, while inGovAlert is used for larger areas, such as a county, state or region.

Brooks and Stone both mention the flexibility of the system and the support MIR3 offers its customers. MIR3 offers customer resources, such as webinars on client case studies and systems testing, and provides e-training for administration and initiation of the system.

Both LFD, with its approximately 150 employees and volunteers, and the FDNY, with its more than 15,000 employees, say their mass notification systems increase efficiency by cutting down on time and manpower demands.

MIR3 isn't the only company providing mass notification systems, of course. But with satisfied customers on both sides of the country with such different needs, it -- or similar products companies like Universal Alert, Omnilert and Bell Tower Technologies -- is worth talking about.

• 
  
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Edited May 22, 2009 by Richard B the EMT