Press Releases
Puckett EMS Explores New Uses for In Motion Technology Vehicle Area Network and Sees Improvements in Operations and Overall EMS Performance
VANCOUVER, BC and Powder Springs, GA – April 24, 2007 – In Motion Technology, a leader in vehicle area networks for public safety organizations, and Puckett EMS, a recognized leader in emergency medical services in Southwest Cobb County Georgia, today announced results from its innovative implementation of In Motion’s onBoardTM Mobile Gateway and onBoardTM Mobility Manager service. Puckett EMS has improved pre-hospital patient care for the 600,000 individuals in the county and extended the Gateway solution beyond the ambulance for critical operational activities and emergency medical technician continuing education.
“There is no question that the improvements we have seen are directly related to the deployment of In Motion’s technology. We knew modems were not going to provide the functionality or flexibility we needed,” said Shane Garrison, vice president and chief operating officer, Puckett EMS. “We built Puckett EMS with one thing in mind – providing the highest quality, reliable ambulance services to the communities we serve and In Motion Technology’s products and services allows us to achieve this goal and do so with impressive results.”
Since implementing In Motion’s technology in late 2005, Puckett EMS has improved pre-hospital patient care by reducing ambulance response times from 12 to less than 10 minutes. Dispatchers have reduced the time to find the closest ambulance available to take the call, and pre-arrival instructions and important call information is sent to ambulance crews while they are en route. Using playback, supervisors can examine each response for quality assurance. And paramedics use the Gateway for research on the scene to make more informed treatment decisions, including patient medical history and prescription information.
Within 4 days of implementation, operators were able to control driver performance by monitoring EMT driving habits and identify excessive speed. With no preventable vehicle accidents in the last 2 years, Puckett EMS has been able to reduce insurance costs by almost 30 percent. And, with streamlined communication and real-time synchronized activities between paramedics and the billing department, Puckett EMS reduced billing time from 2 to 3 weeks to 1 day and the billing staff by almost 50 percent. Patient care records are legible and demographic information is automatically uploaded into the billing system.
Puckett EMS promotes a rigorous paramedic training program. The onBoard Mobile Gateway enables the organization to continue its commitment to emergency responders and, ultimately, the community by providing access to online training programs, email and company policies, procedures and protocols from the field.
Puckett EMS is also realizing the true potential of In Motion’s wireless cognitive system with the imminent rollout of cutting-edge applications. The first application is Puckett EMS’s AmbuTrak, a proprietary inventory control system that will enable real-time monitoring of equipment and supplies in each vehicle. They are also working in collaboration with local hospitals to test electrocardiogram communication where patient heart information is sent from the ambulance to hospitals for real-time evaluation and treatment determination before patients arrive at the hospital.
“In Motion Technology strives to enable seamless wireless connectivity for EMS organizations,” said Kirk Moir, President and Chief Executive Officer, In Motion Technology. “It is exciting to partner with an organization like Puckett EMS that is working to use our technology with a fresh approach and in very innovative ways.”
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 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.
About Puckett EMS
Established in 1984 as Puckett Ambulance Service, Puckett EMS has over 80 employees, and serves a population of over 600,000 in the Southwest Cobb County region of Georgia. They respond to over 20,000 calls each year. Puckett EMS provides 911 Emergency services in Southwest Cobb County with a level of professionalism and compassion that has become well known in the community. Puckett EMS has become an EMS industry leader, and in 2004, it was named the State of Georgia’s Ambulance Service of the Year. For the last two years, Puckett EMS been named one of the Top 25 small businesses in Cobb County.