WebProNews

Tag: emergency services

  • Fatal Medical Helicopter Crash in Tennessee

    Early on Tuesday morning, October 22, 2013, at approximately 6:20AM, a medical helicopter crashed in southwestern Tennessee near Somerville, about halfway between Memphis and the crew’s destination of Bolivar. The horrific crash killed the pilot and two Memphis children’s hospital workers, as they were on their way to pick up a boy who was in renal failure. He was located at a hospital in Bolivar, and planned to be transported to Memphis Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

    The boy was then taken by ambulance, after officials found out about the crash. They began searching when the helicopter’s crew members did not respond during a routine 10-minute check-in. According to Meri Armour, President and CEO of the hospital, the helicopter was cleared for weather and fight plans. Sadly, it never reached its destination.

    Tuesday’s fatal crash was Hospital Wing’s second crash in approximately three years. Hospital Wing is a non-profit air medical transport that provides services in West Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, and Kentucky. In March 2010, a Hospital Wing helicopter crash killed three individuals, when the pilot attempted to outrun a storm.

    According to Bill Conway, CEO of Hospital Wing, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are currently investigating what caused the crash. “It saddens me more than you can know. All three of these crew members were personal friends of mine,” he said.

    According to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, the deceased include a pilot and two hospital workers. 43-year old Carrie Barlow worked as a registered nurse for thirteen years, lived in Halls with her husband, Keith, and raised three children. 43-year old Denise Adams worked as a respiratory nurse for eight years, lived in Arlington with her husband, Rodney, and raised three children. 47-year old Charles Smith, was a pilot who began his career in 2012 after twenty-five years serving for the aviation unit of the Memphis Police Department, who lived in Eads with his wife, Chi, and two sons.

    “They have taken care of so many kids in their short lives…I can’t tell you how incredibly difficult it is for the entire team,” said Dr. Jay Pershad, medical doctor of Pedi-Flite, Le Bonheur’s air transport program. The staff members of Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital go on more than 400 helicopter flights a year and is the only pediatric transport service offered within a 130-mile radius.

    According to statistics provided by NTSB, there was one fatal helicopter emergency medical services crash in the years 2011 and 2012 throughout the United States. In 2013, there have been five fatal crashes, including Tuesday’s crash, that have killed a total of twelve people.

    “It’s going to take quite a while to get to the bottom of everything,” said Ralph Hicks, NTSB investigator. A preliminary report is to be expected within the next week, but a final report could take more than a year to be produced.

    A celebration of remembrance is occurring on Tuesday, October 29, 2013, at 10:00AM at Hope Presbyterian Church, 8500 Walnut Grove Road, Cordova.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Will Tablets Change Emergency Services Forever?

    With technology advancing at such a rapid, incredible pace, it seems inevitable that particular facets of life as we know it will absorb certain aspects of it; and with items like tablets becoming less expensive every day, they appear to be the first things every company wants.

    The benefits of businesses using a tablet greatly outweigh those of using a desktop or even a laptop; lightweight, compact, and relatively affordable, they offer ease of working while traveling, while at the same time providing a much-needed message to their clients that they are on top of technological trends, which can be extremely important for a company’s reputation. Schools are also getting into the act, in part because tablets offer students a way to learn that is in keeping with the fascination of today’s youth with tech gadgets; in short, it makes learning more fun, which means students tend to have a higher success rate in class. But tablets like Apple’s iPad also offer more than 15,000 learning-based apps available for download, an invaluable resource for teachers.

    Do you work for a school or business that has integrated tablet use into everyday operations? What are the successes or failures you’ve experienced? Let us know in the comments section.

    The latest use for tablets involves emergency services, a fascinating and complicated step that has seen its share of pros and cons already. In the high-pressure, fast-paced world inhabited by paramedics, firefighters, and medical professionals, the use of a tablet could turn out to be either a game-changer or a huge failure. One emergency service–Muskogee County EMS in Oklahoma–says that for now, the iPad is in the early stages of changing the way they do things for the better.

    The service currently has 20 ambulances in its fleet, all of which feature an iPad enabled with a program called Geosafe. The program allows the emergency call center to relay information to the vehicles, depending on which one is closest to the area. Chad Cox, an IT specialist for the service, described how it all works.

    “The Geosafe software pulls data from the Call Center’s CAD system and displays certain call-related information onto the iPad: times, patient information, alerts, etc. On the iPad, Geosafe overlays the ambulances positions onto the stock Google maps and also transmits that same information back to the Call Center; the dispatchers have a desktop version of Geosafe, where the dispatchers can see the trucks moving in real time,” he told WebProNews.

    Because communications are so much more enhanced with this system, it could revolutionize the way emergency calls are handled and responded to.

    “Dispatch is able to see the trucks in real time so it makes it easier for them to dispatch them to nearby calls, further shortening the medics response time to a scene,” Cox added.

    Cox also says that Geosafe is working on a weather map, which would enable paramedics to see any inclement weather coming their way. The only potential glitch in the system is that Geosafe may be buggy when faced with Apple updates, especially when they switch over to using their own map system; however, Cox says they have been assured that any iOS updates won’t affect the software.

    So far, so good. But while some nearby cities have begun to catch on to the iPad trend for emergency services, not everyone is so keen to jump on board. For one thing, some towns don’t have a big enough emergency service to make it cost effective or entirely necessary. But there’s also the question of feasibility for other branches of emergency response; for instance, for as helpful as the tablets are proving to be in ambulances, they might not do so well in fire trucks. One major concern is the extreme temperatures a fire engine endures; unlike an ambulance, which doesn’t sit idle for very long, a fire truck sometimes sits for several hours in the heat while a fire is battled, something which would cause a tablet to power down or even malfunction. Also, there’s the added hazard of firefighters throwing wet gear around in the truck, which could damage the screen. The biggest issue, according to a firefighter’s post on Firehouse.com, is that a touchscreen doesn’t mesh well with a vehicle carrying up to 50,000 pounds of weight bouncing around at high speeds.

    However, some stations are having success with tablets inside their units; the trick is to find the right software and, as with any digital device, handle it with care. A firefighter posted his comment on Firehouse.com regarding tablets:

    We have had our Motorola Xyboard 10.1″ tablets in our trucks for about a week now, and everything is running great. For starting we simply used Google maps to map our calls which gave us the option to either type the address or speak it to the tablet, which is much easier. Today we began using software from Chirange Technologies and it is some very sophisticated software which actually surpasses our needs. As for mounting, we purchased mounts from Padholdr, which is by far the best tablet mounts on the market. They are beefy and well made so I don’t ever think of the tablet falling out. The mounts consist of a U shape, where the tablet slides down into the mount when in the truck and easily removed by simply picking the tablet up and out of the mount. One thing I need to find is a way to integrate CAD to recieve calls automatically vs having to manually input every call.

    It looks like the technology could certainly be of great benefit in the longrun to medical services, depending on the software used and whether or not it’s financially feasible for smaller companies. The more success is found, the better chance tablets have of doing for emergency services what the CB Radio did for them in the 70’s.

    When asked whether tablets are a passing fad or something that will stick in his line of work, Chad Cox said he thinks they’re here to stay.

    “Right now Geosafe for the iPad is in its infancy and has so much potential to grow into something bigger and richer,” he said.

    Do you think your local EMS should spend the money to install tablets in their vehicles? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section.