Arguing About GPS And Privacy Is Dumb With Lives At Stake

Ambulance Service Touts Fewer Errors, Faster Response Thanks To GPS
February 19, 2007Georgia - Public safety agencies have tinkered with the use of Global Positioning Systems in small areas recently, but a local ambulance service is pioneering its use over a broad part of Middle Georgia, including rural areas.Mid-Georgia Ambulance owner Ben Hinson said placing GPS systems in his 35 ambulances brings emergency care to patients faster. For instance, it’s easy for callers to say First Street when they mean First Avenue, but GPS software has the ability to pinpoint callers’ locations as they dial 911.

“It reduces the possibility for human error,” Hinson said, adding that once crews have the correct address, a computerized map shows them exactly where to go…. complete FirefightingNews article here:

OK, another sales pitch. But wait, there’s more! I’m not selling anything and I certainly hope you’ll hang on long enough to evaluate my ideas. It could mean your life. or your child’s life … so hang around long enough to learn a little “geek speak”.

GPS dispatch of ambulances is not all that new. It’s a technology often integrated into a system called CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch).

My very first exposure to GPS tracking of vehicles, CAD and AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) was a call I got from the commander of an Air Force base who was very upset at the needless loss of a child’s life under his command.

A mother had called 911 to report her child having breathing problems and the EMS (Emergency Services) first responders who worked for him launched out of their “barn” immediately and rushed to the child’s aid.

However, due to a tragic comedy of errors the ambulance got dispatched to the wrong address and when the crew on the road and the dispatcher, all operating blind with just useless and expensive voice radio, got themselves further confused.

Result? Well the ambulance got to the residence but at least 12 minutes was wasted in the judgement of the senior folks who reviewed the dumb voice radio tapes and phone conversations … and during that 12 minutes the little boy had already expired.

My commander client wanted a system on his ambulances that showed the dispatcher where the vehicles were on a map, in real time, and he wanted it NOW!. Wouldn’t you? Would you be concerned if the child of one of the people you were legally and morally responsible died because the folks under you, although working to the best of their ability, “screwed the pooch” and you had nothing to say to the grieving parents except “sorry ’bout that’?

Well the ad part of this story is, a good solution was available then … for about $2,000 USD per ambulance and as little as nothing per month. Eight years later the exact same ambulances, and very likely the ones you depend upon in your community, still don’t have such a system. Why?

You tell me, I surely don’t know. Do you know how many tools and supplies on a modern ambulance cost way more than $2000? (by the way it would be a lot cheaper today in 2007 dollars)? I certainly have no idea why every ambulance isn’t dispatched this way, and there’s some real dollars and cents advantages as well as the life preservation concern.

• Performance Monitoring: If you’re a government official in charge of RMS or a commercial EMS operator and you aren’t using GPS tracking you are operating with a blindfold. Name me a response when someone didn’t challenge how long it took the EMS team to arrive? Tell me, with a third party accuracy, how well your teams have responded over the past week, month, year. Not how the dispatcher says they responded but how they actually performed.
• Predictive Stationing: I worked with a large commercial client in the Pacific Northwest who used a GPS/CAD system. His major contracts with cites were performance based. If his average response time was consistently less than the contracted time he got as bonus. He paid for his GPS system by taking crews and vehicles off line at certain hours of the day. How could he cut crews and “busses” and still beat his response time goals? Accidents, heart attacks, school sports injuries, etc. are not just randomly distributed over a city and over the hours of a day. By knowing where his crews were and where calls were, and when, he could eliminate the wasteful practice of stationing ambulances at fire stations and other traditional locations, the right teams in the right place at the right time? Money made and lives saved.
• Network Congestion: Ever listen to police, fire or ambulance radio channels when there’s a real-world emergency? Ever wonder how the EMS personnel deciphered all that babble and got the job done? well the real answer is, they don’t always get the message, and roughly 80% That’s right, as much as 80% of the “noise” on those channels is just that. Unnecessary “what’s your location” calls and “welfare check” type calls. GPS can eliminate all of that chatter, freeing up your channels for unique information and making your Motorola rep just sick as he realizes how many more trunked radio gizmos and add-ons you don’t need to find the budget to buy.

So tell me again why you don’t have the budget to buy GPS for your ambulances?