FirstNet Helping Innovative DC Fire & EMS Do More for Patients

By James Careless

For the past six years, the Washington DC Fire & EMS Department (DC Fire & EMS) has enhanced their emergency medical services by implementing a Nurse Triage Line (NTL). The idea behind NTL is to reduce the number of EMS responses by fire and ambulance apparatus in Washington DC. This is accomplished by having the city’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC) transfer suitable non-emergency 911 callers directly to nurses for telephone support. It’s a model that is working for the Department and the District of Columbia.

As for the rest of DC Fire & EMS’ service calls? The timeliness and depth of this agency’s responses have been markedly enhanced since it moved its public safety communications over to FirstNet. NTL and the positive results of this move are among the topics included in the session, ‘The Crucial Role of Innovative Communications in Emergency Telemedicine’. Presented by Chief Thomas Chenworth, DC Fire & EMS’ Deputy Fire Chief of the Department’s Information Technology Division, this session is scheduled for 2:30 pm on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at the 2024 Vision FirstNet Users Summit (Vision 2024). This conference is being hosted by the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) on October 7-10, 2024, at Las Vegas’ Sahara Hotel.

DC Fire & EMS worked alongside the OUC to ensure all critical communications were migrated to FirstNet, after encountering communications challenges during the January 6th, 2021 insurrection. During that incident at the U.S. Capital, “We weren’t able to effectively track units that weren’t on FirstNet,” said Chief Chenworth. “The other carriers’ networks that we relied on for data were overwhelmed, so we relied on the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system and other FirstNet devices for communications.”

While the move to FirstNet started prior to January 6th, this incident showcased the need for all broadband devices to be converted to Band 14. Today, “Every unit in our response fleet is equipped with the following FirstNet devices: A smart phone, electronic patient care reporting (EPCR) tablet, and router, with all advanced life support units carrying additional Band 14 EMS equipment that allows those units to communicate seamlessly with local hospitals,” Chief Chenworth said.

There is no doubt that the number of large gatherings in our nation’s Capital, including January 6th, showcase the value of FirstNet for reliable public safety communications. “When we had that big influx of people in the city, the primary cellular carriers became overloaded; however, we were still able to communicate via FirstNet and Band 14,” said Chief Chenworth. “Today, when we have large events on the National Mall like the inauguration, 4th of July, and the Marine Corps Marathon, we are able to track our units and assign calls to them in real-time, no matter how busy the consumer cellular networks are. And, of course, we’re able to communicate with our members via smart phones because of the priority network.”

Chief Chenworth has been a proponent of FirstNet since he was a captain working a First Amendment rally on the National Mall, where his personal cell phone’s hotspot was unable to connect to the network. “We had a telecom member with us from our IT division,” the Chief recalled. “He said, ‘Hey, try this FirstNet hotspot. It’ll give you priority.’ Once we turned it on, we were able to connect our devices, and we were able to run those devices all day without losing connectivity.” 

Fast forward to today, where Chief Chenworth has come to Vision 2024 to share the great things that DC Fire & EMS is able to do using FirstNet, so that other agencies can do the same. As for DC Fire and EMS’ future plans? “Going forward, having the dedicated FirstNet bandwidth is going to help us with initiatives we are exploring, such as having EMS personnel use their ECPR tablets to connect directly to physicians for telemedicine support during responses,” he said. “That’s going to allow us to further reduce the number of transports to hospital emergency rooms and route patients to the appropriate care which may be a primary care physician, urgent care facility, stabilization center, or mobile integrated health team.”

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