Life EMS Ambulance Implements State-Of-The-Art Data Communication System

In Motion Technology, the leader in mobile networking technologies that efficiently connect and manage equipment, information and people in the field, announced today that Life EMS Ambulance is the first emergency response company in West Michigan to use the onBoard™ Mobile Gateway to improve emergency operations, communications and response times across the communities it serves. The purchase of this equipment was partially funded through a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in cooperation with Michigan Department of Community Health, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Region 6 Hospital Pre-Hospital Preparedness Coalition.

The onBoard™ Mobile Gateway, designed by In Motion Technology, is installed in emergency vehicles to create a “vehicle area network” that provides connectivity for all on-board data communications, including patient tracking, medical monitoring devices, patient care records, GPS ambulance tracking and Control Center systems. The Gateway enables the transmission of information with high levels of security and reliability among these systems in the field as well as operations command and hospitals. The benefits include improved communications, real-time information management, reduced operating costs, including lower fuel consumption and shorter response times.

“With this state-of-the-art communications technology, we are able to incorporate a number of critical operations into one system,” said Mark Meijer, president of Life EMS. “We can monitor the progress of an ambulance to an accident site, upload patient information to communicate with hospitals and even access emergency preparedness plans, all with this system.”

Life EMS Control Center staff can access real-time fleet information, including the location and status of ambulances, pending and in-progress calls and driver safety information. Crews will be able to send and receive e-mail and perform online training between calls from laptops in their vehicles without returning to a station.

“This will increase our efficiency, reduce costs and, most importantly, improve service to the community,” said Kevin Walk, Director of Information Technology for Life EMS. “Because we provide primary paramedic ambulance service to communities throughout 3,000 square miles of Western Michigan, it's important that our crews in the field are able to access information as simply and reliably as if they were in our own Control Center. The onBoard™ Mobile Gateway allows them to do that.”

Life EMS will continue to use technologies available as add-ons to the Gateway in order to improve patient care, such as patient tracking during disasters using bar-coded wristbands that allow hospitals and operations command to track patients at all times while in Life EMS’ care. Life EMS expects that all aspects of the new communications system should be operational by the end of the year.

“Emergency organizations such as Life EMS are seeing real results with In Motion Technology solutions, including improved communications, real time management information, reduced operating costs and shorter response times,” said Kirk Moir, CEO of In Motion Technology. “Our products have been proven in the field by more than 130 public safety organizations, including by some of the most demanding agencies in North America.”