Town approves contract for rst responder communications
During Monday’s East Greenwich Town Council meeting, members approved entering into a number of contracts, one of which will improve communications between the town’s emergency service agencies.
According to fire Chief Scott Kettelle, “The East Greenwich Fire Department has received federal funds to purchase interoperable P25 radio communications equipment. This will allow us to replace obsolete, unrepairable equipment and assist with surrounding departments during mutual aid incidents …This project aims to have communities operate on an interoperable communications platform to improve our mission of providing for the safety of firefighters and civilians. By procuring up-to-date interoperable communications equipment, the operations of the East Greenwich Fire Department will be enhanced significantly. The requested equipment will be used many times daily, on every incident. A propagation study shows the proposed radio system will end the topography-caused blackout areas in town and allow the ambulances to communicate with dispatch from hospitals 30 miles away, which is not possible now.”
Kettelle added, “Currently, when mutual aid is called for from another community, on-scene firefighters are unable to talk to each other on a common channel due to the fact they’re using radios in different bands. It is not unusual for departments with UHF, VHF, and 800 MHZ operating on the same incident. Once our department can standardize communications equipment, they will be able to switch to a common channel on the scene that will allow for instant, interoperable communications without having to relay important messages through a dispatcher or having to assign someone to the command post. We plan to purchase multiband mobile radios with vehicle repeaters. This will allow us to communicate with departments not currently on the statewide 800 MHZ system on their working frequencies and still allows us to use 800 MHZ portables through our vehicle repeaters. This goes a long way toward supporting our department’s mission of protecting lives and property by allowing firefighters to
directly coordinate operations.”
In response to the request, the council voted to award a contract to Cybercomm, Inc., 90 Colorado Avenue, Warwick, RI to install vehicle repeaters, mobile radios and consolettes for the Fire Department in an amount not to exceed $14,015 with authorization for the Finance Director to disburse advance funding for the unassigned fund balance of $13,314.25 and $700.75 from bond funds.
Additionally, the council awarded a contract to Handtevy for the purchase of an app for pediatric emergencies.
Kettelle explained the app “that is downloaded to our already compatible existing software and is customized to our local protocols. It delivers lifesaving information for all of the population and is especially crucial and specialized to our pediatric population. Once patient information is entered, the app will rapidly provide necessary equipment sizing and medication doses which are unique to our pediatric population as their medications are primarily weight and age based. Pediatric patients are high stress incidents and having this tool will alleviate the need to perform doing manual calculations in an already stressful situation. CPR guidance and checklists are included within the software to improve performance during cardiac arrest events for both children and adults. Any interventions given will be automatically uploaded to our EMS reports that will transfer with the patient at the hospital becoming a crucial permanent part of their medical record. The members can also contact the hospital directly through the app and speak with the medical control physician that will be receiving the incoming patient thus providing a thorough treatment plan with real time up to date information with the patient’s treatment team.
The contract is for $11,951.34.