The Case for Vaccinations

Monty Python’s Without the constant fear of virus-fueled comedic riff on the destruction — just the occasional Ebola Bubonic Plague of flare-up halfway across the globe — it 1348, which killed became possible for many to doubt the 25 million people, necessity of vaccinations. made us laugh We, as public safety professionals, with its “bring out have pledged to protect and serve our Aaron Dix your dead” memes communities. While we accept the picturing Londoners inherent dangers of our jobs, we do what heaping corpses we can to protect ourselves. We equip into wheelbarrows. Throughout all ourselves with ballistic armor, SCBAs, civilizations, pandemics have been feared turnout gear, medical PPE and safety vests. and dreaded: Smallpox, Whooping Cough, We start every encounter with a safety Spanish Flu, Bubonic Plague, TB, Influenza. assessment: a visual 360, a sweep of the Remember the 11 confirmed cases of house or scene safety/BSI. Due to an Ebola in the United States in 2016? We increasing number of LODD on roadways, freaked out about that. we are now entirely shutting down traffic

Only those Americans who are over and using old apparatus as blockers. With the age of 80 would have any personal increased cancer rates among us, we are experience of a major pandemic. now building clean stations and cabs, For decades, until the creation of investing millions in clean air technology the Polio vaccine in 1954, the streets Polio was eliminated from the majority of case of Smallpox, the puss from Cowpox for the apparatus bays, and supplying two and playgrounds of the United States developed nations by 1994. was used to provide inoculation in the full gear sets for each member. But, we were empty of children during warm In 1952, the peak of the Polio early 1700s as the disease ravaged the openly question a vaccination that has months. Polio struck without warning, pandemic, fewer than 3,200 deaths United States. the potential to eliminate a virus that is permanently maiming and killing tens of occurred in the United States. Covid-19 Vaccination programs have two killing and maiming us. Every department thousands — primarily children. Some killed nearly 500,000 U.S citizens in one overarching goals: spends time and money on prevention victims whose diaphragms had been year. 1. To protect the individual from programs: fire safety, Prom Promise, paralyzed by the disease spent the rest Vaccinations arose out of the primal maiming or death. providing bike helmets, conducting car of their lives in Iron Lungs — massive instinct of survival. With little medical 2. Develop herd immunity within seat inspections, teaching hands-only metal coffins that provided negative- training or knowledge, early physicians communities. CPR; and yet, we have members sowing pressure ventilation. The March of Dimes, placed the puss of an infected person When a high enough percentage of doubt about the vaccine and the truth of established in 1938, was focused on in the abrasion of a healthy subject. the population is vaccinated or immune the disease’s death toll on social media. “raising dimes” for the eradication of The healthy inoculated patient would to a specific disease, herd immunity Today, a disease will travel across Polio. Over 1.3 million children in the commonly get minor symptoms of the occurs, and the disease is eradicated from the globe faster than our ability to US participated in the Polio vaccine trial. disease, recover quickly, and then be the community. Smallpox was eradicated communicate its spread. While we are After widespread vaccination programs, immune to the disease’s full rath. In the worldwide and Polio now only exists currently fighting COVID-19, we are in a few nations in Asia. However, all once again seeing an Ebola outbreak in other diseases that are uncommon in the Western Africa. U.S. are still prevalent throughout the I became a paramedic and firefighter world. Stopping or slowing vaccinations to serve my community. I swore an oath in the U.S. will cause outbreaks in our to serve unselfishly and work towards communities — as seen with measles and a better world for all humankind. whooping cough. Our responsibility as Public Safety Diseases are resilient and change Professionals is to get vaccinated — to with time and treatments — hence the protect ourselves and the communities presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. we swore an oath to protect. Several different strains of COVID-19 are Aaron Dix, MBA, NRP, is the Executive Director already common within the U.S., with of EMS for Prisma Health and a Commissioner numerous others tracked throughout the for Clear Spring Fire Rescue. Prisma Health world. operates a large EMS department providing 911, Since the end of Polio, widespread ALS, and Critical Care services throughout South vaccination programs have all but Carolina. Dix is a national speaker and has eliminated many deadly diseases. authored multiple articles.

GPS Fleet Tracking Expedites Emergency Response, Accountability

Del Williams

When every second counts to save lives, dispatchers must immediately locate the medical, fire/rescue, or police vehicle closest to the emergency and the driver must respond as quickly as possible without getting lost or taking detours.

Today, this requires using a fleetwide vehicle GPS tracking system, which can expedite emergency dispatching and response by providing the real-time location of every vehicle in the fleet on a 24/7 basis. Such technology can also improve vehicle dispatch routing and management when historical records can be consulted to determine which routes are the most efficient.

In addition, implementing realtime GPS tracking can increase driver accountability making them less inclined to take unauthorized excursions, such as for personal errands, when not on a call. This can help to minimize unnecessary vehicle mileage, fuel use, and wear and tear. On the plus side, GPS tracking can also be used to recognize and reward consistently rapid employee response.

In the case of SouthStar EMS, an Augusta, GA based professional private medical transport service providing critical emergency and non-emergency ambulance services in Georgia, South Carolina and beyond, expediting response was the driving force to implement a quality fleetwide GPS vehicle tracking system.

“When we dispatch our crews, we want to ensure they end up at the correct location, so real-time GPS system accuracy and coverage was critical,” says Joey Knowles, Business Development Officer at SouthStar EMS. “Because we work with the VA medical system which can require transport to distant out-of-state locations, we also wanted national – not just regional – GPS tracking.”

According to Knowles, when he selected a GPS tracking system provider for his fleet of approximately 50 vehicles, he looked at a wide variety of different systems.

“We wanted the capability of tracking vehicles in essentially real time,” says Knowles. “So, we chose one with this capability.”

Compared with typical GPS tracking devices that may only update every few minutes, he chose a device that provides real-time location updates every 10 seconds, as well as location, speed and idle time alerts if something is amiss. This data is transmitted via satellite and cellular networks to a smartphone or PC on a 24/7 basis. The system has access to nationwide speed limits in its database.

According to Knowles, in unfamiliar surroundings sometimes drivers get lost and need help to quickly get routed to the correct destination. He found the new system quite proficient at helping with this task.

He says that via a PC website link or smartphone app provided by the provider, he can display the real-time location of his entire vehicle fleet on a map, and zoom in on any specific truck. At a glance, he can see if a truck is moving (displays green) or stopped (displays red). If he touches a truck icon, the app will display where the truck has been, where it stopped, and how long it has idled. All this helps with on-the-fly coordination.

“With basically real-time GPS tracking, our dispatchers can immediately see where any ambulance crew is on a map and provide turnby-turn guidance to get them to the scene of the emergency without delay,” says Knowles. He adds that this is particularly helpful in areas with poor radio coverage, since the GPS provides constantly updated location information, so accurate driving assistance can be provided with a minimal need for back and forth conversation.

By the same token, if an ambulance ever breaks down, the system enables the dispatcher to quickly send a mechanic or another ambulance crew to quickly transfer the patient and transport him/her to the nearest medical facility.

In instances of emergency disaster relief or evacuation, Knowles says that it is also a big plus to have the whereabouts of the entire fleet visually available via a GPS tracking system so the closest vehicle can always rapidly respond.

“We do a lot of evacuations because we are far enough inland so many nursing home/hospital patients on the coast end up being transported here,” says Knowles. “Being able to track our vehicles for those kinds of situations is important as well.”

Because getting to the emergency scene faster is critical to save lives, Knowles says that he compares the historical records of how units respond to the same location/facility to note which is more efficient.

“We are always auditing response times to improve them with better routing,” says Knowles. “Our system makes it is easy for us to pull reports based on location and time to see which crews are traveling fixed trips faster than others. By comparing these, we can figure out which routes are better and try to implement these with our fleet, when possible.”

see GPS FLEET page 46