Groundbreaking
Technology Helps Race Run Without a Stitch.
Groundbreaking
technology developed by Imass allowed ambulance crews and
race organisers to reach runners and spectators in
distress more quickly this years Great North Run - helping
to keep casualties at their lowest number in years.
The
Great North Run is the world's biggest half-marathon and
presents major challenges to medical teams as they attempt
to look after the 36,000+ runners and crowds of over
30,000. The vital importance of providing swift medical
attention to those in need was all too apparent at the
2005 run, during which four people died and a record
number of people were taken ill. Last year, one more
person died.
Imass,
was brought in by the emergency services, and business
partner Sepura
to help set up a control room at the
event from which to precisely monitor the location
of each of the 130 hi-tech radios used by ambulance crew,
mobile paramedics, medical centre, race doctor and
organisers during the race, many of whom were using bikes
and buggies for added mobility.
The
radios themselves were provided by Imass's partner, Sepura
and used Global Positioning Systems which enabled to
control room to pinpoint the exact location of each
medic/official when combined with Imass's control centre
technology.
Simon
Swallow was one of the event managers for North East
Ambulance. He says: "We
have continually strived to improve the speed and
efficiency of communications at the Great North Run, to
enable the medical control personnel to dispatch emergency
vehicles and medical resources as quickly as possible to a
casualty."
"Sepura
and Imass technology allowed a rapid deployment to each
incident so that the ill or injured could receive expert
attention faster than ever before."
"On
screen in the control room we could see the exact location
of a casualty and which ambulance had the shortest access
route to get them to the medical centre most quickly."
The
control room technology, known as the Imass Automatic
Resource Location System (ARLS),
was initially
developed by Imass for emergency services and homeland
security organizations. The
system has two key components; firstly a GIS visualisation
system, which utilises MapInfo
as the core GIS and
secondly a communications gateway. Utilising
the internal Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality
within the
Sepura TETRA
radios,
it tracks on Ordnance Survey information the
location of the mobile resources.
Imass's
Public Safety Business Development Manager, Paul Warner,
said:"We
were obviously delighted to contribute to the Great North
Run event with the support of our business partners
Sepura,
MapInfo
and
Ordnance Survey."
"The
Imass tracking solution was successfully used throughout
Sunday to monitor the location of various medical support
resources. This helped Control Room personnel efficiently
allocate the nearest medical support resources to anyone
who needed their assistance, thereby contributing to the
safety of all those involved."
"We
are already in discussion with the Medical organisations
that support the event as to how Imass can further help
next year's event."
For
more information on any of our products or services,
please telephone 0191 2135555.
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