Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Integrating Emergency Communications and Information – A Virginia Case Study

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 18:44:10 -0500

Interoperability Now:

Integrating Emergency Communications and Information – A Virginia Case
Study

An Interoperable Vision for the Future

In 2001 and 2002 officials of the Northern Shenandoah Valley, supported
by the ComCARE Alliance, assembled a team of emergency response leaders
to refine and deploy ComCARE’s modern emergency information
architecture. This new architecture gives tangible structure to an
exciting new vision for the future. The shared vision of the ComCARE
Alliance and its members is of an integrated emergency communications
and information system. This system links the public to emergency
agencies, and agencies to each other in a seamless, secure network. We
believe it will save lives, reduce the impact of serious injuries,
enhance homeland security, conserve public safety and hospital
resources, and improve transportation efficiency. We call this vision
the E-Safety Network.. The E-Safety Network is not a product, but rather
an architecture and approach to interoperable communication within the
emergency community, and with the private sector. This new approach
provides local, state, and national emergency leaders with powerful new
data manipulation tools and far more access to, and control over,
available information. It links all authorized public and private
entities with interoperable data communications and a set of information
communications and management tools.

How We Got Here

The Virginia Department of Transportation sponsored the Shenandoah
Valley initiative. Sponsored by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare
Association, a version of this E-Safety Network was recently
demonstrated in a statewide bio-terrorism drill. Several similar drills
were held in 2003 involving the full range of emergency response
agencies in incidents such as a hazardous materials truck hijacking, a
smallpox outbreak, and airplane and car crashes, but never before with
such a comprehensive approach. This recent drill demonstrated that with
the right mix of public and private leadership, the rapid deployment of
interoperable communications tools is possible at a reasonable cost.

An Interoperable E-Safety Network An innovative team of companies agreed
to demonstrate how diverse commercial technologies and products could be
integrated seamlessly into an E-Safety Network. With involvement from
leaders all over the country, this consortium of ComCARE members and
supporters developed and actively demonstrated an open, standards-based
network that provides responders with immediate life-saving information.
This shared information can include details about individual emergencies
or mass-casualty events, which require emergency data-sharing, alerting
and notification. It can also be accomplished without enormous cost or
the necessity of buying a single, proprietary system.

In 2003, two local exercises held in the Northern Shenandoah Valley in
January and in August demonstrated interoperability between all
emergency response agencies across the region. In these drills, data
messages were relayed instantly to computers at emergency dispatch and
emergency medical facilities. Geographic locations of incidents and of a
truck hijacked by terrorists were automatically plotted on a shared
online map, providing incident information and a common operational
picture for all participants. Simulated crash data from an
OnStar-equipped car was sent simultaneously to 9-1-1, the closest
hospital, and the state DOT traffic center.

In March, the E-Safety Network served as the primary communications
system for a simulated smallpox attack across a 22-county region of
northern and western Virginia. Through electronic messaging, each of the
hospitals and public health districts reported cases, monitored staff
vaccination status, and checked bed availability, while simultaneously
creating instant communication documentation and eliminating the need to
make multiple individual telephone calls across the region. Viewing the
message traffic in the region gave each participant a “picture” of 2

“Viewing the message traffic in the region gave each participant a
picture of the broader situation. In the hubbub of an emergency these
data systems improved our efficiency and accuracy.”

Dan Hanfling, MD,
Director of EmergencyManagement and DisasterMedicine, Inova HealthSystem

Alert message screen within E-Safety Network targets a message to
response agencies in the area defined by the sender on a map the broader
situation. Additionally, the E-Safety Network was expanded to deliver
streaming video via the Internet to provide healthcare professionals
with on-demand short video clips of training on how to diagnose and
treat smallpox, along with a simulated live “briefing on the national
emergency from a senior federal official” in Washington, D.C.
These drills proved extremely successful. The Hospital Emergency
Management Committee of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Assn.
(VHHA) voted to trial the E-Safety Network, and to develop it for use as
a communications platform for all hospitals in the state. It was added
to and accessed through the emergency management website VHHA had
already created to prepare its members for disasters.

October 19-21, 2003

The Virginia Department of Health conducted a statewide bioterrorism
exercise this weekend in October to evaluate emergency response systems
for dispensing emergency medical supplies and coordinating resources.
The drill began with scores of persons presenting themselves at
hospitals throughout Virginia complaining of flu and pneumonia-like
symptoms. Over the course of the weekend an increasing number of such
patients were seen, to where eventually it was officially “determined”
by VDH that many of them had come in contact with a biological agent.

On the morning of Tuesday, October 21, the Virginia Health Department
announced that there had been a “release of pneumonic plague by
terrorists”, and told hospitals how many infected patients they had.
Hospital participants used the E-Safety Network to enhance their
communication and resource coordination efforts. With only brief
training by ComCARE staff, hospitals and other agencies were able to use
the Network to communicate quickly, accurately and efficiently.
The Virginia pneumonic plague drill demonstrated the ability of
hospitals to coordinate and share vital information within their own
organization, within their region, with stateagencies – and with other
emergency response entities.
E-Safety Network Architecture Principles

• Open Architecture; Published Interfaces
• Web Services; Internet Protocol
• Electronic Directory of Emergency Responders
• Interoperability; Plug and Play
• Standardized Message Sets
• Emergency Incident Web Site
• Internal and External Messaging
• Individual Alerting Systems for Officials

Full Report:

http://www.comcare.org/projects/states/va/ExecSum.pdf

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