Press Releases
Mecklenburg EMS System Sees Benefits with In Motion Technology’s Stable and Reliable Vehicle Area Network and Technical Support
VANCOUVER, BC and Charlotte, N.C. – June 5, 2007 – In Motion Technology, a leader in vehicle area networks for public safety organizations, today announced that Medic, the Mecklenburg EMS Agency, has improved pre-hospital patient care across the City of Charlotte and the rest of Mecklenburg County with In Motion’s onBoardTM Mobile Gateway and onBoardTM Mobility Manager service. With more than 350 employees and covering a population of nearly 800,000, Medic responds to more than 85,000 calls per year.
In Motion’s stable and reliable cognitive wireless systems deployed throughout the ambulance fleet has helped to improve overall effective unit hour availability – the number of hours that ambulances are available to be dispatched – and allows for remote trouble-shooting to keep ambulances on the road.
“Over the past decade, Medic has doubled its productivity as measured by time per hour each crew spends transporting patients, while also improving the quality of medical care those patients receive,” said Barry Bagwell, Medic’s assistant director of operations. The very successful implementation of the In Motion onBoard Mobile Gateway and Mobility Manager service in our fleet reflects Medic’s continued commitment to equipping our paramedics and EMT’s to deliver the quality service and excellent pre-hospital care our citizens expect and deserve.”
Medic has deployed state of the art technology to improve pre-hospital patient care and efficiency since entering into a unique performance-based contract with Mecklenburg County in 1996, with oversight from the county and the area’s two large healthcare systems. Medic implemented computer aided dispatch, automatic vehicle location systems and driver safety equipment to continue staying at the forefront of EMS technology. However, the agency began facing connectivity challenges such as dropped calls, connection resets and rebooting, despite having modems to support their applications. More importantly, field crews were spending a significant amount of time resetting connections – time taken away from patients.
Medic’s IT department evaluated and tested solutions from several vendors and selected In Motion Technology to ensure connectivity and support for every device and application. With In Motion Technology, remote trouble-shooting and the ability to monitor and maintain the mobile network over the air translates into increased effective unit hours for vehicles on the road and more time dedicated to patients.
“The need for reliable, secure and manageable solutions in the field is paramount, and the connectivity challenges Medic faced are all too common across EMS organizations. Medic is at the leading edge of Mobile IT, and the connectivity issues they were having were causing enormous problems in their operation. We are delighted that we have been able to help them resolve these issues, and we're proud to be their mobile networking infrastructure partner," said Kirk Moir, chief executive officer, In Motion Technology.
The In Motion onBoard Mobile Gateway is a cognitive wireless system that turns ambulances into secure local area networks that sense and select the best available wireless network, enabling emergency medical technicians to access and disseminate information from the field. The onBoard Mobility Manager monitors the vehicle location and health of the mobile network, helping public safety organizations improve response times.
About Mecklenburg EMS Agency
Medic is a unique partnership between Mecklenburg County, Carolinas Healthcare System and Presbyterian Healthcare to ensure excellent emergency medical service to a population of nearly 800,000. Mecklenburg EMS Agency is the only emergency services organization in the area to function under a performance-based contract and operate at an unparalleled level of public accountability. Medic was selected by its peers in 2006 as the first-ever recipient of the Pinnacle Award as the outstanding EMS system in North America.
About In Motion Technology
In Motion Technology provides cognitive wireless systems that enable public safety organizations to stay connected while in motion. The company’s complete vehicle area network solution ensures that any IP device can be useful in the field immediately with no modification, connecting to headquarters over the most reliable communications network available. In Motion Technology solutions have been successfully deployed in high-performance EMS, Police and Fire departments in the US and Canada. Founded in 2002, In Motion Technology is based in Vancouver, BC.
Media Contact
Lauren Mauro
GCI Group for In Motion
512.542.2832
lmauro@gcigroup.com